Waste Some Time
by Starlit Muse
Summary: Kaoru is thrown headlong into the world he's always hidden from. At least there's still a familiar face. Kind of Melodramatic... m!Slash. Endrance X Haseo / Kaoru X Ryou.
1. The Fall Of The Rose

**A/N**: Herro! I just fell in love with this pairing for the second time as I was playing the game a while ago. I'm at the part right before you get Endrance back. He's one of my favorite characters to play with, so I was constantly trying to get him to join my team. I never really read the message he sends back, though. I did for the first time just a bit ago and it made me love the pairing even more! 'Goodbye, Haseo… Goodbye… My Beloved.' Really? Seriously? How can you not love him to DEATH ; 3;.

This takes place like 2 and a half years after the end of the game :]. This is going to be a short chapter. Just kind of introducing the plot. Not really, but meh. It's where I'm deciding to stop the introductory chapter. Enjoy if you can~!

**Disclaimer: **I do not own, nor claim to own, any of these characters. This stands true for the following chapters, as well.

**Summary**: Kaoru is thrown headlong into the world he's always hidden from. At least there's still a familiar face. Kind of Melodramatic...

**Pairings**: m!Slash. Endrance X Haseo / Kaoru X Ryou

* * *

**Waste Some Time  
**Chapter One  
_The Fall of the Rose_

* * *

There are many things you want to hear from the one person who means everything to you. Maybe it's the love confession you've dreamt of, that thank you went out of your way to earn, or just a warm greeting; as long as they acknowledge your presence. And although there aren't too many things you do _not_ want to hear from them, when you do it does far more damage than those little things can repair.

The controller that fit so well in his hands slipped from his slackened grip, clattering to the floor with a noise that he heard even over the background music that had become the soundtrack to his life. The man behind the avatar of **Endrance** froze, thin fingers clenching around thinner air.

As there came a lull in the music, his headset blared with the small avatar's response to the Terror of Death's words, "How dare you speak to Master En that way, Haseo! I've tolerated you this long for him, but this time you've gone too-" **SakuBo** shrieked, sounding as affronted as he felt.

"You honestly think I care what _you _have to say? You're even worse than _him_!"

He felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. His chest clenched and his uncut nails dug into his palms as the words stung.

** SakuBo** took a step back, ambiguous face set in a frown. "You're not just going to stand there and let him speak to you like that, are you, Master En?" she shrieked as she turned toward The Temptress. His avatar remained as it had been: pixels and polygons just moving as they were programmed to when the players behind them let them sit for long enough. The girl's expression softened after a moment of silence. "…Master En?"

The character design he'd come to love just smirked at him.

"You see, he's realizing that I'm right. He's completely worthless."

His heart pounded in his ears, his chest aching as he stared in disbelief at the avatar that belonged to the one person he cared the most for.

"H… Haseo?" his soft voice cracked on his end of the microphone, but it was covered up by the advanced technology invested in the specialized headsets- the voice of **Endrance** sounded just as smooth and airy as it always did, if a little hurt. His hands dropped to his lap and he felt blindly around for his controller. He felt it against his foot and bent down, his forehead bumping the desk as his hands groped around for it in the room he rarely felt a part of.

When it was safely back in his hands, **Endrance** took a step toward **Haseo**, one arm outstretching slowly as it always did. He longed to touch him, even in cyberspace, just to know he _could_ touch him. That he was within range. But he wasn't. He couldn't touch him and he would never try against the other's will, no matter how much he yearned for it himself.

As the dark smile faded from the multi-weapon's face, replaced by the glare he'd seen directed towards others, he felt the threat of tears prickling.

"Why won't you just go away?"

He retracted his hand, eyes on the face of the game character. He desperately tried to discern whether this was some kind of cruel joke. _Surely…_ "Is that really what you want, Haseo?" he asked, the playback of his voice harder than he had ever heard it before. He gripped his controller to his chest as he leaned over his desk, waiting breathlessly for the answer he hoped he'd never hear.

And yet…

"Yes."

** Endrance**'s eyes closed as he turned away. Kaoru's thumbs froze at the controls. He didn't want it to be true. "Then… I suppose," he halted in his words, fighting to make sure there was no hint of his distress in the voice the man of his dreams heard, "This is goodbye, Haseo." And with that, **Endrance** warped out of the field. He didn't bother to save his progress; he wouldn't be back.

"Master En!" was the last thing he heard before he logged out.

Then there was absolute, disorienting silence. Nothing but silence and black.

In the solitude of his room, Ichinose Kaoru once again dropped his controller. He took off his headset and unplugged his computer. He got out of his chair, moving toward his untouched bed. For the first time in more than a week he fell onto the sheets, curled up on the covers and closed his eyes.

And he cried.


	2. The Rose's Dilemma

**A/N:** Yeah, so you're getting this one pretty quick. I like this a _lot_ better than the first chapter. Oh, if you have any ideas for better chapter names than I have, let me know ^^! Enjoy if at all possible . 3.!

* * *

**Waste Some Time  
**Chapter Two  
_The Rose's Dilemma_

* * *

He was sitting with Haseo in a deserted field. The temple stood out in the distance, the moon looking much more real than it ever had before. He swore he could feel the grass tickling his hand as it lay so close to Haseo's.

For the first time, it was actually him with Haseo. Not **Endrance**, but _Kaoru_. And it was Haseo; not **Haseo**, but the person behind the avatar, the way Kaoru saw him. And, though he knew the student probably didn't look the way he imagined, the person beside him was even more gorgeous than the avatar. His image of the boy had dark brown hair and a youthful face, wearing the same white clothing from his final form. He was striking.

Kaoru found he was unable to look away. As their eyes met, he melted. Those warm chocolate pools captivated him. He longed to indulge himself in the man beside him, but he held himself back. He would never even dream about going against Haseo's will. Instead, he settled for an endearing smile, turning his eyes respectfully up over the moon that hung so high over the far distant mountains.

He felt the weight on his shoulder, but he didn't look.

"Kaoru," the other spoke softly, using a voice the elder had only heard him use once before. "I'm glad you invited me to join your party."

His hand was covered, though he still didn't look.

Even as the other's fingers intertwined with his own, he didn't look back.

He'd had this dream before.

Every time he'd fallen asleep the previous year, he'd had it. And every single time he looked the other in the eyes, he used those three irrevocable words. And without fail they would go in for the kiss… and then he would wake up. Just before their lips met.

He wanted to enjoy the dream while he could. The feeling of their hands together and the body heat, and the closeness he could never share with the man- no matter how long they spent online together. Three years he'd known Haseo, and in all that time he'd never even learned his name. He really was worthless…

"Kaoru…?" He almost looked. The warmth against him stiffened as the fingers gripped tighter at his own. "Kaoru…" He realized that the dream wasn't waiting for him to make the first move any more.

"I… I love you, Kaoru."

That was new.

His resolve crumbled to the tenderness in that voice. He turned to face the love of his life and saw how beautiful he really was in this moonlit area. In the distance he heard the soft crooning of one of the lucky animals. Haseo twisted around to face him, eyes searching and bright.

The brunette took control, straddling Kaoru's bony hips. Their entwined hands lifted to Haseo's chest, and he felt the fluttering of a racing heart beneath his fingertips. Their faces drew nearer, Haseo's eyes glowing with the light of the moon. Despite himself, Kaoru knew that he was giving into temptation. Their lips were mere centimeters apart; he could feel the younger's breath hot on his sensitive skin.

Then Haseo was kissing him.

He found his back flat against the grassy ground and his lips moving on their own. His arms wrapped around the brunette, pressing their bodies together as closely as he could manage.

The kiss went on for forever, it seemed. When they finally broke for breath, their eyes met. It was **Haseo** who glared down at him.

"You're worthless."

In a heartbeat and a half Kaoru was blinking the sleep from his eyes, unwinding from the warmth of the covers. Sunlight streaked through the window he'd forgotten was there. As he sat up, the lone blanket slid from his shoulders, pooling around him. His thoughts went to his mother. He'd have to thank her.

Immediately, Haseo was back at the forefront of his mind. They'd kissed, and it had been so _real_. He grasped the blanket tightly in his fists. He'd never allowed himself a kiss, even in his dreams; and it struck him that, given the choice, he wouldn't have stopped at that. A blush lit up his cheeks. He shook his head, clearing it as best as he could.

There, sitting on the desk on the opposite side of the room, was the computer that had been his one constant connection to Haseo for the three years he'd known him. His stomach clenched. He wanted so badly to believe that he hadn't really meant it, that it really had just been a cruel joke. But even he wasn't delusional enough to convince himself of that.

Instead, he stood from his bed and shuffled past what had been his life-line until, for the first time in nearly three days, he was out of his room.

Sometimes it seems that life throws a hurdle at you every once in a while just to test your reflexes. Whether you jump it or turn in a totally new direction, your decision can make or break the next chapter in your life.

And in Kaoru's life, there were a few things that had changed without his noticing.

That his father practically refused to acknowledge his presence was a newer development, though he'd noticed it the few times he'd left his room the previous month.

As it turned out his sister was almost out of middle school. The school year was on its very last week and she had managed to pass her high school entrance exams with flying colors.

Minoru was ecstatic. Both because she was going to the same high school their parents had gone to and because, now that her brother had decided to quit living on the computer ("We'll see how long that lasts," his father had snorted over lunch), they could spend some time together before they left on a family vacation. 'Family' referring to all members of the Ichinose family that had left the house more than once the previous year. The 'family' had already purchased the plane tickets and made arrangements with the school, so he was out of luck. Not that it mattered either way to him. His family going to France without him meant nothing.

News that his sister had developed an interest in the game he had an addiction to had come as a bit of a shock. "Kao-nii! Can't you teach me how to play it sometime?" she had asked with a broad smile as soon as he sat down to lunch. It had taken him about four minutes to agree to show her the ropes after a solid wall of pleas.

Upon being told at dinner that he had little more than a month to find a new place to live, Ichinose Kaoru can proudly say that he did _not_ 'freak out' or throw a fit, or anything unsavory like that. In fact, he can't quite say he did much of anything.

The 23-year-old just turned his eyes down over his meal with a shallow nod and continued to play disinterestedly with his food. He vaguely wondered if he'd ever get used to sitting down and eating a full meal. He was so used to just finding a plate on his desk whenever he tore himself away from the game long enough to use the restroom and picking at it for a few hours.

With a moment of hesitation, his father looked candidly between his mother and sister, then back to him. "You… Do you understand what I said?" he asked pointedly, looking taken aback by his son's nonchalance on the matter.

And for his sake, Kaoru still did not seem at all effected. None of the internal turmoil of a five-year shut in being told he would soon need to not only leave the house, but live on his own for a while showed on his face.

He simply kept his gaze focused on the trail his chopsticks were weaving through his meal, head bowed over the plate. "I understand. 'While we're gone we want you to try living on your own.' How can I possibly misunderstand that?" he asked.

Things went silent around the table as the words passed his lips. He went on playing with his food for a few more silent seconds before excusing himself from the table and seeking the solitude of his room.

He sat by habit at the computer desk, his hands going for the headset all on their own. He caught himself just as his door swung open. He looked up to see his sister in the doorway, smiling knowingly down at him. "I see how it is. You were just going to get on it yourself and abandon my request," she accused, closing the door behind her.

He felt a pang of guilt at the thought and stooped down to plug the computer back in. "I told you, I'm not getting back on anymore. He asked me not to…" he trailed off, standing up and gesturing to the chair for her. She said nothing and took it, her smile temporarily gone. "I'll walk you through the creation process and get you accustomed to the basics, but only after you help me find a good place to stay…"

She snickered, looking at him from over her shoulder. "Sounds like a fair trade. Where are you thinking you wanna stay?" she asked as she spun the chair in a circle.

He thought for a moment, eyes unfocused. He remembered a conversation he'd had with Haseo. "I think Tokyo," he responded, frowning at the ground, "I hear it's nice there…"

She gave him a curious look, but made no mention. "Okay. Let's see what we can find there. Whoa! Kao-nii, you never told me! I didn't know you were into BL!" she exclaimed, jerking forward in the chair as his screen loaded.

His face flushed as he looked up to see what she was looking at. His chest hurt as he saw his own background, but he felt a fond smile touch his lips despite it. About a month before, while Haseo had been in school, he'd checked out a few boards about the Terror of Death as he had a habit of doing. This was after a weekend of the two of them training together for two full days, so they'd been together nearly the whole time. They were only apart when Haseo had been called to Canard for a meeting, and even then he'd waited just outside the guild head-quarters. It had been one of the best experiences of Kaoru's life.

Apparently during this time some passersby had noticed them together and one had drawn a picture of them in a nighttime scene in an open field area. **Haseo** in his Xth form stood beside **Endrance,** who knelt in the grass petting an unlucky cat, who glared heatedly back up at him. It embarrassed him that somebody had witnessed what couldn't have been his greatest moment, but at least the attacking animal had gotten a laugh out of **Haseo.**

Then they'd gotten rid of it together. That had been the one time they both died during that long play through. They'd had their statuses dropped so low that the boss seemed drawn to them and they were one-hit killed three times. Revival Medicine kept them hanging on until they ran out.

Kaoru shook his head. "That's a picture of my character with Haseo," he explained, pointing to each as he said it.

"Ah. Nii-chan is pretty! I bet people think you're a girl a lot, don't they?" she teased. She looked it over thoughtfully. "So this is the Haseo you're always talking to? He's pretty, too. You like him a lot, don't you? From what I've heard, you say his name all the time..." she said suggestively, grinning widely as she clicked open a browser.

He said nothing but his sad smile remained, as did hers.

For about an hour they searched until they'd chosen one that was nice and cheap and within walking distance of every place he would need to go. They'd also put out an application to an internet café, a place Minoru thought he would particularly enjoy working.

As soon as they'd finished preparations she wheeled on him at last with a wicked smile, "I've more than handled my half of the bargain, I'd say."

He gave a somewhat reluctant nod. Dealing with the real world was much more tiring to him than the online world ever was. With a yawn, he pointed to the icon that would load The World's page. "Load the page and click 'create new account' in the top left." She nodded eagerly, clicking the icon. She followed his directions quietly until the screen blanked out and brought up a character creation screen. She squealed then in her excitement.

"Okay, Kao-nii. I want to surprise you. Turn around," she gestured as she spoke, spinning her finger in a circle.

He scooted back on the bed and flopped back onto the covers, staring up at the ceiling. As he heard her frantic clicking and typing, he closed his eyes.

Their conversation brought back memories of a time he'd been playing with Bo and Haseo just a year before.

_ They were walking through town after defeating a pretty tough boss, heading to buy some more health drinks and save their progress. Suddenly **Haseo** halted, frowning at something. He received the pop-up as well. **SakuBo has logged in**. He waited for a long moment, looking around toward the chaos gate, where they'd seen **Saku** off the previous day._

_ When the hat appeared, **Haseo** turned toward the spawning character hesitantly. "Let it be Bo…" he muttered, arms crossing his chest as they typically did._

_** Endrance** smiled._

_ The sister had gone off on Haseo the last time she was online. In the end she'd followed him until he logged off and, apparently, she bothered him with about twenty messages as well. He still seemed a little bitter over it._

"_Haseo!" _

_ It was definitely Bo._

"_Hey, Haseo, my sister's mad at you." _

_ Haseo smacked his palm onto his forehead, looking less-than-pleased. "She doesn't want me to talk to you today… But… I want to level. Can you two help me?" he requested politely, blushing nervously as he had a habit of doing when addressing either of them._

_** Haseo** turned and looked at **Endrance** questioningly. "What do you say?"_

_ "It's up to you, Haseo," Kaoru responded as he usually did when asked if he minded another member in the party._

_ Not for the first time, **Haseo** frowned at him for the words. "Endrance, I'm asking you for a reason," he chastised, startling his elder. "Besides, it's your party…" he added quickly._

_ The smile that came so easily when he was around **Haseo** appeared. "Thank you, Haseo…" he took a step closer. **Haseo** turned to look around the market area. **SakuBo has joined the party!** flashed across both of their screens._

"_Do we have enough Mage's Soul? And Health Drinks for another player?" __**Haseo**__ asked after a moment, checking his inventory._

"_Oh, don't worry about that Haseo; Saku always keeps this character pretty well-" he began, though the sound of footsteps fast approaching and a loud yell cut him off._

"_Amazing! Your character design is so pretty!" They all turned around. There stood a twin blade in very basic gear, looking directly up at __**Haseo**__ with a blush lit upon his face. The name above his head read __**Kinto**__._

_ The Adept Rogue blushed as well, looking shocked at being referred to as female. "Me? Huh- don't you mean him?" he pointed fervently at **Endrance**._

_ The newcomer shrank a few steps away. "'Him?' I thought you were all pretty girls. Ah~ what's with this game. All the characters look so feminine!" He didn't at all look like he minded, still blushing and looking them over._

"_We're all guys!" Both __**Haseo**__ and __**Bo**__ shouted, looking insulted. __**Endrance**__ just smiled to himself, used to the confusion._

_** Kinto** knelt beside **Bo**, tugging at the shorts. "Transvestite?" he suggested to himself, curiously making sure it wasn't a skirt. _

_ Due to the restrictions on player v. player fighting in towns aside from Lumina Cloth, **Bo** could do nothing but bolt behind **Haseo**, which he did instantly. "You seem like a new player," Haseo began, sounding strained. _

"_Oh yes! This it my very first login. Imagine my luck to find such cute designs right off the bat~" he crooned, clapping his hands together with a lecherous grin._

_** Haseo** leveled him with a glare, something dangerous glinting in his eyes, calling forth one of his currently useless gun blades and holding it outstretched toward the offender. "We're going to leave now. If you try in any way to follow us I will personally make sure you never have the opportunity to level up. Ever," he responded in a monotone._

_** Kinto** seemed shocked. "You… You can do that in this game?" He turned and ran away through town. _

_** Haseo** got rid of his weapon and turned, frowning, toward the gate again. "Screw doing these quests, Endrance. Let's never come back to Mac Anu…" he growled definitively._

_** Endrance** smiled warmly down at him. "Anything you want, Haseo…"_

_ The white-haired character blushed again. "What?" he demanded, staring at him defiantly._

"_You think my design looks 'cute?'" the tallest of the trio asked, not at all embarrassed._

"_That's not what I said! I said… It was because you're the one who gets confused for a girl. That was my first time!"_

"_But you did say it, Haseo. I heard it too," __**Bo**__ accused innocently._

"_Shut up! We're going to Breg Epona!"_

"Kao-nii~!" his sister giggled. He heard the familiar sounds of the chair creaking as she leaned back in it. "I hope you like it!"

Kaoru sat up and moved beside the monitor to see just what his sister had created. He blanched. "M…Minoru. Wha- What did you do?"

** Endraseo** was a twin blade. She had white hair about as long as **Endrance's** in relation to her body, red eyes, a deep purple version of something strappy like what had been **Haseo's** first form, a very pale complexion, a mark of a rose on her left shoulder, and some icy blue markings elsewhere that vaguely resembled **Haseo's**. In short, it looked like...

"See? It's like the child you and Haseo can never have!"

To his horror, she had already made it into an actual character. He didn't know whether to strangle her or hug her for thinking of such a thing. He settled on a blush. "Minoru…" he mumbled, wondering for a brief second if there were a way to erase a character that he could get to before she realized what he was doing.

Then, with a sinking feeling in his gut, he remembered that it didn't matter. He wouldn't be getting back online anyway. It wouldn't matter if there were such a monstrosity roaming The World. **Haseo** was the only one who'd have to worry about it, but the odds of him bumping into her were slim to none.

"Amazing, I know. Okay, so show me how to work through the game…"

Before he could do anything, a knock came at his door. With his quiet acknowledgement the door swung open and his mother stood within the frame. She smiled as she saw them. "Oh no, not you too! That's just what we need," she teased with a smile.

The teenager stood and smiled before her mother. "Not yet mom. We were just getting to the addiction part."

"Ah. It's a good thing I came when I did, then. Before I can let you go jumping into online games, I need you to jump in the bath. We're going to spend the week cleaning." Minoru looked appalled at the news.

"I can't believe you would do this to me! I thought you loved me!" she exclaimed dramatically, looking close to tears.

"Yes, yes. Now get to it, Minty," their mother wielded the nickname she'd given to the girl at a young age and it worked as it usually did.

"Yeeeees, ma'am," she said, giving in instantly and moving to leave the room. In a moment she was leaning in the doorway, pointing at the monitor. "If you do anything to that character, I'll throw your computer out the window, okay?" she cooed, winking before slinking away beyond sight again.

His mother stepped into the room and set a basket of clothes beside the bed as she took a seat beside him on the edge of it. She gave him a look-over before a kind smile turned up her cracked lips.

"Are you okay with going to live away from home for a while?" she questioned, pushing her long blond hair back over her shoulder. He nodded, eyed downcast over the floor. "And… do you have anything in mind? I don't want you to wait until the last minute. This is something you need to really consider, Kaoru."

"Minoru was helping me look around. We've already contacted an apartment about it. They said they'd hold a place for two weeks. They need the down payment by then, though... and it's a six month lease. I also put in a few applications with her help…" he explained hesitantly, meeting her eyes a grand total of three seconds. The nervousness he'd felt at dinner was returning.

"You'll do well, Kaoru. I have faith in you. I'll talk it over with your father again. Maybe I can get him to change his mind…" she said, looking concerned as she watched him.

He looked up immediately, frowning. Hearing her say that… he shouldn't be worrying her like this. He was in his twenties now… It was time for a change. He shook his head. "I want to give this a try."

Her smile grew back. "Good; I know he won't rethink it. I've been trying to make him change his mind for a week already," she laughed.

"Thank you."

She pulled him into a hug, holding the position for a few more seconds than she usually got to. "You will do well. I know it. I have a very good feeling about this," she informed him knowingly, nodding as she said it.

He smiled, nodding as well. "Good night, mom," he said for the first time in well over a year. She froze as she went to pick up the basket again. She stared for a moment before looking twice as happy.

"Good night, Kaoru-chan."

Once she left the room, he changed into his pajamas (another thing he'd gone without for a long while) and turned out the light before crawling under the covers. He decided to take a bath in the morning.

As he lay beneath the warmth of his blankets, staring at his hand on the sheets, he was reminded why he loved white sheets. Against the white of the sheets on his bed, when it was lit only by moonlight, his hand looked darker. It didn't seem like his own pale hand, it looked as though it belonged to somebody else. He hated feeling completely alone. Just the sight of his hand against the pallor of his sheets gave him the feeling that there was somebody else there with him.

If he thought hard enough, he could imagine it was Haseo. But that wouldn't help tonight. He felt the tears brimming in his eyes at the thought of his one person, at the thought of the last thing that had been said between them.

No. Just feeling like he wasn't alone would have to be enough for tonight.

* * *

**A/N**: By the way, on a little side note, that last bit was actually what inspired me to start this story. I was laying in bed at a hotel unable to sleep and since I'm really pretty pale it surprised me how much of a difference white sheets made. Then I thought of Endrance and it went downhill from there.

Random trivia xD;


	3. The Rose On The Breeze

**A/N:** Hehe. I like this story. It's giving me something to enjoy as my family is out 'camping'. Hooray for being in an area with electricity :3! Oh, thanks for the review xD! I've had this written to the middle of chapter four since before I started posting the story, I was just waiting until Saturday. Just because of your review I'm posting it now. Also, I haven't played this game for nearly a year, so if you see anything that's weird or the game is against let me know so I can go through and revise it. Enjoy, ?-san!

Also, I might come back and add in a random little bit about the family and Kaoru getting to know each other again, it sounds like it'll be interesting. I've actually started considering making a new 'story' for a bunch of holiday one shots, so I might throw it in there. I have a busy schedule for like three days because of my birthday.

Also!: a cookie for whoever knows what MMO (AFK) is from :3!

* * *

**Waste Some Time  
**Chapter Three  
_The Rose On The Move_

* * *

_**Endrance** stood beside the chaos gate, watching the different characters coming and going. Every so often somebody would watch him, or wave or smile. To each person he simply stared. He was waiting for **Haseo** by Breg Epona's gate, just standing there. The kid was the leader of a guild. He had other people he leveled with. It was perfectly logical that he was taking a while to get to the gate. And still Kaoru could feel the ugly emotion of jealousy bubbling up in his chest at the thought. _

_ That** Atoli** girl… She threw herself at Haseo almost as much as he did himself, although he did it far more tastefully._

_ Sitting in silence, he wondered for a moment if that was why he was late. If the man of his dreams (as **Haseo** had been labeled a month or two after they met) was being delayed by that healer. He knew they were close, closer than he'd probably like to admit. But… He couldn't help but hope that the adept rogue preferred his company to that of the whiny girl's._

_ To Kaoru's surprise, his character sat of its own accord. When left idle for fifteen minutes they were programmed to sit, and **(AFK)** was set to appear before their name to let other players know that they were away from the keyboard. Kaoru frowned from within his headset, as did **(AFK)Endrance**. That meant that Haseo had asked to meet him there about seventeen minutes ago, and yet he wasn't showing up._

_ With a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, Kaoru removed the headset. That probably meant Haseo was off with one of the girls. As he thought about it, he took a bite of the food his mother had left on the corner of his desk for him in the unlikely case he grew hungry. **Haseo** had girls left and right. From the big-breasted **Pi** to **Alkaid** and **Atoli**… And, after all, they'd only known each other for a year… It wasn't like he had any claim on the boy._

_ With a sigh he settled on going back to his search of Breg Epona's market when he heard "Damnit!" echo quietly from the headset._

_ He lifted it curiously and replaced it over his eyes. As he grew accustomed to the sights, he recognized **Haseo** standing in front of him, looking distressed._

_ A smile broke out over Kaoru's face. "Haseo. There you are," as soon as the words left his lips, **Haseo** perked up, looking down at him. "I was getting worried..." his smile faltered slightly when the guild leader glared at him._

_ "Endrance, you moron! What were you doing waiting here? I told you to meet me at Mac Anu's chaos gate!" he rebuked, hands finding his hips as they had a habit of doing._

_** (AFK)Endrance** became **Endrance** a second later. The avatar stood, taking the few steps that brought it as close as he liked being to **Haseo**. And as surely as he drew nearer, **Haseo** took that step back like he did when he was annoyed with him. "What do you mean? You just asked me to meet you at the chaos gate. You must have told Mac Anu to… somebody else." **Endrance's** arms wrapped around himself. "I've been waiting here because this is the last place I saw you."_

_** Haseo** blinked, taken aback by the statement. He scratched the back of his neck nervously, kicking at the ground. "Actually… Atoli told me to meet her at Mac Anu…" _

_ Kaoru felt the butterflies attacking his stomach. A small smile spread across his lips. "But, why are you here if you have Atoli, right? She obviously wants to be alone with you," he pointed out, the wings were suddenly sharp as razors, scratching at his insides._

_** Haseo** crossed his arms over his chest instead of his hips, something he did when he was feeling nervous. Or so Kaoru had surmised. "Yeah. I told her that I'd already promised to spend the day with you." _

_** Endrance** blinked. "But you didn't…" he said, confused by the Terror of Death's choice of words._

_** Haseo** looked embarrassed, staring openly at him. His hands were balled into fists at his side in an instant. "Fine! If you don't wanna come with me then stay here!" he exclaimed, leaving the scene at once. _

_ Kaoru blushed, a smile coming unbidden to his lips. He wondered for the briefest instant if that was an invitation before he acted on it. In a heartbeat and a half he was porting between Breg Epona and Mac Anu. As he landed in the starter city, he saw a less-than-pleased **Atoli** standing with her arms crossed over her stomach beside the still-embarrassed **Haseo**, who was looking determinedly at the chaos gate. _

"_Haseo." __**Endrance**__ called. The white-haired character ignored him, but his posture stiffened. "Please invite me." This time even the simulated voice sounded excited. Both __**Atoli**__ and__** Haseo**__ looked up at him as he approached. He scooped __**Haseo's**__ hands up into his own, leaning closer to him. The implications in what the other had said in his newest root town… He could barely contain himself._

_** Atoli** bristled at the motion, but remained silent. **Haseo's** face tinged red. "Fine. C-calm yourself down!" he demanded, ripping free, though the hold wasn't tight at all._

_** Haseo has invited you to join his party of Haseo and Atoli. Accept. Decline. **As soon as the words flashed across his screen, he accepted. **Endrance has joined the party. **popped into the corner. His smile remained in place._

"_Can we go now, Haseo?" __**Atoli**__ asked, taking a childish pose that candidly drew attention to her chest. _

_ He didn't even spare her a glance, still flustered by **Endrance's** actions. "Uh- yeah. We're going now."_

_ The next second, they were warping through the gate to a low-level field._

_ When they landed, **Haseo** smiled, taking a few steps forward.** Atoli** waited behind, giving **Endrance** a hard look-over before rushing to catch up with a huff. **Haseo** paused, turning back to look at him. "You coming, Endrance?"_

"Man, Kaoru. You sure can space out if you try hard enough…" Kaoru's eyes came into focus from the ceiling only to see that his sister was in the way, smiling. "C'mon. We're getting ready to go. Make sure you're all packed!" She smacked his arm, jumping off his bed and twirling around his room.

"I've had everything packed up for a week, Minoru," he replied, sitting up and pointing to the two bags against the wall opposite his desktop.

She gasped dramatically. "What? You aren't bringing you precious computer? Who are you and what have you done with my brother?"

"I have my laptop…" he conceded.

Minoru gave a bark of laughter, a bright grin on her face. "Aha! I knew it. Got our game all loaded 'so I can play it when I visit?'" she asked, air quotes and all.

He frowned at her. "You don't have much faith in me…"

"Oh, it's not that. I'm just a hopeless romantic," she said matter-of-factly, plopping down in the rolling chair and spinning in it as she had a habit of doing. At his confused expression, she smirked. "I'm confident that once you find out that the love of your life is worried about you and has written to you, you'll forget all about whatever it is that made you want to give it up. That and because I already told Atoli you'd be on tonight," she pointed out.

"He's written to me?" he said, regurgitating the only part of her sentence that he'd registered aside from 'worried about you'.

He was on his feet in an instant, moving toward his desktop. "Yep. He wrote you the night you gave it up actually." He looked at her as though she'd just kicked his metaphorical puppy. "And the night after that. And about a week later."

"And you didn't think it necessary to tell me?"

"Of course not. You don't want to play anymore. You insisted on it, in fact."

He lunged for the computer, but right when he was poised to turn it on, his mother opened the door. "We're going."

"Can I have a moment? Something just came-"

"We're leaving now." His father's voice interjected.

The room went silent.

"Yes."

The time it took to drive to Tokyo only increased his dislike for Minoru. Especially since the whole way she was saying things like "'If only you'd gotten on, Endrance. We could have made up and had hot, sweaty, cyber-!'" His parents had looked back at them for that. She'd continued talking behind his hand, though it was muffled enough that they didn't understand. "'Where were you when I needed you so badly? Atoli had to comfort me instead of the one I really wanted… And she kept trying to take my pants off.'" He'd shot her a glare for that one, though it wasn't directed at her. "Oh, by the way, Atoli's trying to get you back online. She said something about being worried about him and how he's not the same. Stupid things like that."

It wasn't until this trip that he realized what a cruel, dirty mind his sister had.

For rarely leaving his room for five years, he was suddenly fairly close to his little sister. And it had everything to do with how nosy she was. She'd rarely left him alone the whole month he was offline. When he'd asked her if she had any real friends she'd reciprocated, so he gave it up and submitted himself to being stuck with her.

As they pulled into the parking lot of his six-month home, he was chomping at the bit to get inside and on the web, but his mother wouldn't let him go that easily. She pulled him into a tight hug, holding him to her as if he were back in infancy and somebody were trying to take him by force.

"I'll miss you, Kaoru-chan. I wish we would have known you'd be back to us by now. I wish you could join us! So badly." She sobbed into his shoulder.

"I'll be okay, mom," he replied, hugging her back a little awkwardly since it was something he still wasn't used to. "Remember? You said it yourself."

"I was just trying to give you a little confidence. I'd take it back if it would keep you with me!" she sounded on the verge of hysterics.

Minoru came to his rescue for the first time that day, smiling and peeling his mother from him in a way that suggested she'd had practice.

Only recently did Kaoru realized how clingy his mother was. According to Minoru she'd slept in a chair outside of his room a couple times when he hadn't slept in a few days and she would be the one who carried him to his bed the few nights he didn't remember making it there. And there were many more little things she did on a daily basis, like remake his bed, even when it went untouched, bring him the cup of water he'd only barely realized was always full when he needed a drink…

And he'd deprived her of this for so long.

"Come on, now. We have to let him go, mom. He's a grown boy. And he needs to make up with his lover, so hop to it, bucko!" she said, clapping her hands as she pointed to the building.

"Lover?" his mother asked immediately. "My little Kaoru hasn't been meeting girls online, has he…?" she asked, a pointed look in her eyes, "You know they lie where they can… Bust size, hip size, personality, general looks. It's all lies, Kaoru!" She sounded as though she were right back on the verge of hysterics as Minoru started pulling her back to the car.

"I love you, mom. Dad, Minoru," he said respectfully, bowing low as they looked out from inside the car. He repressed his impulse to run for the stairs and restart his connection to the online world.

"We… love you, too, Kaoru. We'll be back for you in six months."

"And I'll be back in time for school, bud. You'd better believe I'll be over every weekend."

"Make some real friends, Minoru!"

"You too!"

As soon as they were out of sight he sped into his new home, ignoring the impending fear that clenched at his stomach. When he was in his new sanctuary, he immediately unpacked his laptop and plugged it in, connecting to the local wireless internet hotspot.

Just as Minoru had said, there were three mails from Haseo. He dove into the first one greedily.

** Endrance, please come back online. I can explain whatever happened. I , I don't have enough time to type it out and I want to make sure you understand. Please meet me at Breg Epona's chaos gate.**

That one came ten minutes after he gave up the game. Kaoru felt a sting of guilt in the pit of his stomach. He checked the time of the next one. It was the next day at 2, two hours after they usually agreed to meet on Saturdays.

** I'm sorry. Saku just told me what happened. I'm so sorry. I waited for you, but you didn't show up like you usually do. You really are mad at me, aren't you? Now that I think about it, you've never been angry at me. Not once… guess I really blew it this time. But I want to talk to you. No matter when you get this, please let me know. This is my number, please call it the next time you get online. I don't care what's happening. I'll drop anything. I really want to talk to you. Please don't be too mad at me, Endrance. Wow. I just realized I don't know your real name after being your friend for three years. Did it really never come up…? I'm horrible. My name is Ryou. You can call me that if you want, but please don't use it in front of anybody else. Nobody else from The World knows it. Like I said, please call me. No matter if it's 2 in the morning, the middle of the day, two weeks from never… I'll be online as soon as I can. Please, Endrance.  
Ryou.**

Kaoru felt his stomach clench with the skilled words of the one he'd grown so attached to. He really seemed serious about it. Why was he saying 'Saku told me what happened'. He was there, too… He shouldn't need to be told. Not after he asked him to leave. The 20-something-year-old swallowed hard, looking down to the phone number. The final one he sent was, as Minoru said at the very start of semester break.

** I feel horrible about making you so angry at me. And the worst part is I don't even know if you just hate me now or if you're not getting these… Or… worse yet… did it make you quit. Endrance, please. Please. I hope that I didn't make you quit something you love so much. I'm out of school as of tomorrow at noon. I'll stay home for the month. I'll be in my room, by my computer. I won't leave it for a second. If you call I will be online immediately. Knowing I could have hurt you bad enough to make you hate me or quit… I'm sorry. Please come back, Endrance. Please forgive me. I've never explained what happened, have I? I'll explain at the end of the month if you don't get online. It's too impersonal just through mail to tell you. I want to make sure you understand. Please don't hate me. That's it. I've made my case. Here's my number again in case you didn't get the last mail. Did you know there's a new character running around Mac Anu with the name Endraseo? I thought it was pretty funny. She even looks like the both of our characters. Next time I see her I think I'll talk to her. She looks a lot like you. Well… your character at least. Ah. I'm rambling. Okay. Please let me know if you get online. Hopefully I'll talk to you later.**

** Ryou**

Kaoru stared blankly at the screen. He could barely believe he had worried Haseo enough to write this. He inwardly cursed Minoru. She'd seen him. There was no way she wouldn't have. His design is too obvious in Mac Anu. His level too high… Why hadn't she said anything, or maybe spoken to Haseo herself? He breathed in deeply, calming himself down. If only he'd read it in the car or before they left. He could have called. But as it was he had nothing but a return message to send. As soon as his rent was paid, he was saving for a cell phone.

He was about to reply when the topmost message caught his eye. **Atoli**. He debated for a moment. Maybe there was something important in there. It was from the previous night. The original message read:

** Endrance,**

** I want to talk to you, would you please get online? It's about Haseo. He's been acting differently these last few weeks. He got in a fight with SakuBo and they were arguing over you. I don't remember all of it, but in the end, Saku wound up logging out, shouting that it was entirely his fault you weren't getting online anymore. I won't ask what happened, that's your business. But… Normally I would try to solve it myself, but it hasn't worked this time. Whatever happened, whatever he did… he's sorry about it. Genuinely. He's only been running through low-level fields, he hasn't been leveling at all. When I asked him why, he said it was because he wants to stay even with you. I… I want the old Haseo back. The Haseo who gave snappy remarks when they were deserved. Not the Haseo even Gaspard can walk all over. Please come back online. Maybe we can set up a time to meet. I know I'm not your favorite person… but if it takes you to bring him back, I'll do whatever it takes. Please?**

** Atoli**

Above that was a reply that Minoru had obviously written:

** Atoli,**

** My brother is having something of a breakdown because of whatever Haseo did (**_Way to blow things out of proportion, Minoru._**). I don't know what it is and I don't really want to know, but what I do know is that my brother is still attached to Haseo. Whatever he did hasn't made him hate the guy. Every once in a while he accidentally mentions him and just kinda drifts off. I'm sure I can convince 'Endrance' to get back online. Let's talk online. I'll meet you by Mac Anu's chaos gate. My character's name is Endraseo.**

** Minty-chan (Endrance's Sister)**

Kaoru couldn't quite tell whether to want to hug her or strangle her, which was a fairly typical thing, as he'd recently found out. The final response sat on top, like the head of a pyramid.

** Endrance,**

** I've spoken with your sister. She said you would be on tonight. I hope so. She also said that you don't have a phone to call Haseo (Did he give you his number?), but I spoke with him when he was on yesterday, he said he'd get on at 10 tonight. If you want to talk to him, please get on and talk to me first. I would like to be there too. I want to see if you being there really has anything to do with his response. It's getting a little annoying, to tell the truth… I'll be on at 930. I know we haven't really gotten too close… but I'd like to change that. If you don't mind, that is.**

** Atoli**


	4. Reuniting the Terror and the Rose

**A/N:** Hehe! I love you. No. Not really. But I do love this story x3! That's why I wrote nearly three chapters that night :]. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I'm going to enjoy writing it ^w^~! Ja ne! Thank you for your reviews! I always get so excited when I get an email in my ffnet folder xD! Thank you thank you thank you~! Okay, so hope this doesn't disappoint, it's been half-written since the day after I posted the first three, so yeah. See you at the end.

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**Waste Some Time**  
Chapter Four  
_Reuniting The Terror and The Rose_

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With Haseo's words and Atoli's fears running through his head, Kaoru looked around at the time. It was already almost nine. He heaved a sigh, sitting comfortably on the balls of his feet as he stared at the laptop's screen. He closed out of his mail and clicked on the icon for The World. As he predicted, it took some time to load on his laptop for the first time. He was just glad to avoid the hour it takes to install it, having Minoru do it the night before.

He got up and stretched and walked around as he'd taken to doing recently, looking back over at the bright screen every so often. He fished his headset out of the confines of his laptop's bag, dusting it off carefully. He started pacing after ten minutes, staring out the window impatiently after twenty. At 930 it was still loading the patches. He silently cursed himself for waiting until the last second, sitting before the computer and chewing on his thumb nail.

It was 9:50 when he could finally login.

He snatched up his headset breathlessly, feeling his heart pounding in his ears. He shortly heard the usual opening music as he appeared in Mac Anu. The instant he appeared, his view was blocked by an oversized hat. If he had been in **Endrance's** place, he would have felt the crushing hug **Atoli** was giving him. As a few more sounds of warping reached him she released her hold, looking teary-eyed as she pulled him off a ways from the chaos gate.

"Endrance, I could kiss you right now! Thank you so much for coming. I know it wasn't for me, but coming for Haseo is even more important. So thank you." She bowed her head low, the tassel scraping against the floor of pixels.

"It was for him, but I wouldn't mind making a friend, either…" he stated in his programmed, smooth voice. "So why did you want me on early?"

She blinked away the pixilated tears. "I wanted to know why you quit. It seemed so out of the blue to me. One day you and he were attached at the hip, the next you're nowhere to be found and he's moping around…" she paused, looking curiously up at him. "What happened that night?"

Kaoru hesitated, biting his lip. "That night we went out to fulfill a lower-level quest like we had been for a while. We had Saku with us and she kept yelling at him and bothering him over every little thing. A few times he threatened to kick her out of the party. Then he said he'd be back in a bit- that he might have to go," he frowned from within his headset and **Endrance** did in kind. "When he came back on Saku started yelling at him for wasting our time and he blew up. He said he was sick of this. Said she was just a pain and that I was worthless. He kicked me out of the party and told me to leave. So I did."

She gaped at him. "That… that's horrible! I can't believe he would say something like that! There's no reason-. But, that also doesn't sound like something the Haseo I know would say… Least of all to you." She looked off in thought for a moment before shaking her head. "No, that sounds like a completely different person. There has to be something else to it." She trailed off.

"He said as much in the mails he sent me. It really caught me off guard. Hopefully I can find out what happened tonight," he ventured, smiling weakly.

"We'll see… Oh!" She stood still for a moment and suddenly turned toward him. She pushed him into the shadowed area beside the save booth. "I want to see the difference there is between when he gets on and when he sees you. I'm sure you'll be interested too." She smiled serenely up at him, taking a step toward the gate. "Just come out when the time seems right," she instructed, approaching the gate quickly. She dusted off her untouchable dress, standing like a statue before the platform.

He was a few minutes late. When the head of white hair appeared from within the warp-rings, Kaoru felt a jolt in his stomach. Just like that, the butterflies were back in action. Those red eyes were downcast over the ground before him. As Kaoru watched through **Endrance**, **Haseo** materialized.

"Good evening, Haseo. Isn't it a beautiful night where you are?"

"It's okay. I wasn't really paying attention…" he said, keeping his eyes averted from her.

"Okay… well. Then how was your day?"

"My phone didn't ring once today…" he replied pointedly, sounding a little down, though he frowned.

** Atoli** cast him a candid look from over her shoulder, snapping her head back around when **Haseo** looked up to her face.

"But anyway, you're the one who invited me… You said you wanted to show me something. So shall we create a party?" he suggested half-heartedly, sounding far less-than-thrilled.

His expression softened instantly as the alert crossed his page.

** Endrance has invited you to join his party of Endrance. Accept. Decline.**

"En… Endrance?" he asked uncertainly.

** Atoli** smiled over at him now, gesturing for him to come out into the open.

** Endrance** moved out into the walkway only as the alert popped up in the corner.

** Haseo has joined the party.**

"Good evening, Haseo," he greeted politely, smiling at him. In a heartbeat, the student was at his side, snatching up his avatar's hand and dragging him toward the chaos gate. **Endrance** glanced back to **Atoli**, seeing her smiling, too.

** Haseo** glanced back as well. He hesitated, looking between them. "You set this up?" he asked.

"Of course. Boys can't do anything by themselves. Just Minoru and I..." She grinned knowingly at **Endrance**.

"Would you mind if we spoke alone for a while?" **Haseo** asked. Kaoru noted from his end that he was still holding his avatar's hand.

"What are you talking about? I'm getting tired." She forced an obviously fake yawn and stretched her arms out above her head. "Consider me gone. Have fun. Minoru said to tell you: 'Hurry! Kiss and make up already!' Good night, Endrance, Haseo." And with that she was gone.

Before Kaoru could even apologize for his sister, so were they. As his feet touched down, he realized they were in the same sort of field most of his dreams took place in. A night field, open area. Beautiful moon. And just as he'd always thought, **Haseo** looked gorgeous. The moonlight bathed him well. Breathtaking.

** Haseo** took but a moment to realize there were no monsters around before he bowed low, eyes shut as he bore himself to **Endrance**. "Haseo…"

"Endrance, I'm sorry. I wasn't even going to stay online. It had been a long day and I was getting tired. A friend from school came over; that's why I left. Then I left to use the bathroom. I had no idea he was actually paying attention when I rambled in class. I told him every once in a while the sort of things we get up to in The World. He either misheard me or got a little jealous… When I got back in the room, I heard him talking to Saku. If I'd known he would say things like that to you, I never would have left my game running, let alone have spoken with him in the first place. Please forgive me, Endrance. You're my closest friend. Online, offline, anywhere. I would never intentionally put that in jeopardy, and I'm sorry that a stupid mistake on my part cut off our contact, even for only a month," he said, managing it in such a short space of time that Kaoru had trouble taking it all in at once.

After a few seconds of digesting it all, **Endrance** took a step forward as he finally gave into his longest-lasting impulse. He pressed lightly on the boy's shoulders, lifting him back up to his full height. "And I'm sorry I didn't check my mail sooner." He pulled the smaller avatar into a hug. To his surprise, **Haseo** returned it.

When they pulled away, they both sat down where they were. It had been a while for **Endrance**. He wanted to take in the beauty of the artificial world.

"Ryou, is it?" Kaoru tested for the first time, smiling from inside the safety of his headset.

** Haseo** grinned as well. "Yes. I never got yours, though…"

This time a sly smile spread wide upon **Endrance**'s lips. "Maybe I'll tell you mine when I fear you're angry with me, as a bargaining chip…"

"Ha. Funny. If I ever get 'mad' at you, it's probably the same scenario I just told you."

Kaoru frowned. "Please don't even joke like that. That hurt a lot."

"I wouldn't even dream of it. Like I said, it'll never happen again. I'm sorry it did in the first place…"

After a while, they decided to clear the field together, half filling each other in on what had happened to them during Kaoru's month of abstinence, half in companionable silence.

When they finally returned to Mac Anu and ported to Breg Epona for some _long_ overdue leveling, somebody approached them. **Endrance** halted as he laid eyes upon one of **Haseo**'s girls. **Haseo** did as well. Kaoru fell from Cloud 9 to about Cloud 7, his smile faltering slightly as she spoke.

"Haseo! You jerk- I told you to invite _me_ the next time you got on!" **Alkaid** glared heatedly at the silverette, hands on her hips.

Said boy simply gave her a placid smile. "Sorry, Alkaid. Something came up," he told her with a shrug.

She looked briefly confused, finally seeing **Endrance **a few paces behind him. A smile lit up her features suddenly. "He's back. And he got you talking again!" she sounded excited. "Atoli told me it had to do with you, but- aw, man. This means you'll probably start blowing me off again, huh?" Her expressions sure changed fast.

Just as suddenly as she'd come, she was gone; lost to another field area, most likely.

** Haseo** rubbed the back of his head, looking sheepishly up at him. Kaoru grinned lightly, just enough to fly under the radar of the helm. "So I hear you've been weird since I stopped playing…" he stated.

Now **Haseo** stretched, as his avatar so often did. "Well, yeah, I told you- you're my closest friend. I was worried he'd scared you off for good." His cheeks tinted as he started checking out the chaos gate again, this time for a field for them to enter for training purposes.

"Almost, but only because I thought that's what you wanted," Kaoru clarified, standing directly beside his beautiful friend as he loved doing.

He saw the red eyes turn toward him, though the character remained frozen in a menu. "Well, don't. Even if you think I don't want you online that shouldn't matter so much. Do what _you_ want, En… Endrance," he sighed, obviously peeved at only having the elder's Character name.

Kaoru frowned. "I only want you to be happy, Ryou…" he said as he briefly noted that the blushed remained on the other's face, "I'll do anything you tell me to, anything I think will make you happy or make things better for you…"

"…Idiot," **Haseo** breathed as they vanished from the root town and transferred to a high-level field.

Immediately, as they entered what they'd agreed on as the last field for the night, they were engaged in a battle. When they'd destroyed all monsters on the outer level of the field, they entered the temple together, Haseo finally picking up on one of their earlier topics.

"So, where did you move to?" he asked as they descended the initial staircase.

It was Kaoru's turn to be embarrassed, but he took it better than the younger ever did. He smiled down to Haseo and said clearly, "I remembered one of our conversations and decided on Tokyo," in a way that suggested he _wasn't_ stalking him in any way.

** Haseo** stared at him in disbelief for a moment as a battle began around them. They took out the monsters quickly and he immediately jumped back on the topic. "You're in Tokyo, now?" his voice gave away a little more interest than he probably meant to.

"I am. I have an apartment for six months and the day after tomorrow I start work at an internet café called A Shot In The Dark." At this news, **Haseo** glanced off into the distance.

"A… Shot In The Dark…" he tested, thinking. "I've heard some of my classmates talk about that place. I think it's fairly close to my school," he said, blinking as he recognized it.

As the taboo topic of an offline meeting came to mind, they fell again into silence. Kaoru would love nothing more than to meet the man of his dreams in person, but that was something he could gladly wait for until the other felt comfortable- if at all.

The rest of the temple's levels came and went rather uneventfully, leaving them both with low HP as they entered the statue room. Relief lit up **Haseo**'s face when his eyes fell upon the giant statue and the chest before it. The character stretched again.

"I'm starting to get tired. You can have the chest. I'll see you…tomorrow? Two? I still have a week until I'm back in school."

"That sounds good. I'm going to have to get used to... working, soon." He smiled good naturedly, approaching the chest and opening it. The items weren't much to get excited about.

When they were both safely back in the root town and saved, **Haseo** moved to stand before him and crossed his arms over his chest, frowning. **Endrance** looked down at him in surprise, another small smile spreading across his lips as the other looked away, embarrassed. "What's your name?"

"Guess my favorite color and I'll tell you," he said pointedly, eliciting a confused look from Ryou's avatar.

"Huh? I guess… Purple? Red? Green? Blue?" Each color receive a shake of the head until he attempted the last one.

At this Kaoru grinned and gave him a hint. "Not anymore, but it used to be."

** Haseo** frowned in confusion for another moment before something caught his eye. He looked back up and guessed, looking a little flustered again, "White?"

This time the blue-haired avatar smiled sweetly and reached out, hesitating only for a moment before sweeping a hand over and lightly brushing a few strands of the smaller avatar's hair out of his face, leaving the hand lightly on his cheek and moving closer, keeping eye contact the whole while. "Beautiful…" he admitted.

** Haseo** stayed in place for a few moments longer than he usually did when confronted with a movement like this before quickly turning his face away. "I guessed it- so what's your name?" he asked curtly, glancing only briefly over, but long enough for Kaoru to get butterflies at the sight of the blush gracing his soul mate's pixilated cheeks.

"Kaoru," he revealed, silently feeling giddy at his response.

"Kaoru… I think it fits you," Ryou said, **Haseo** refused to look at him.

Kaoru could have melted. He grasped his controller tightly as it started slipping from his sweating palms.

"Good night, Ryou."

"'Night, Kaoru…" Haseo hesitated, looking him up and down and up again, focusing on his face. "Mine is red, by the way…" And with that, he was gone.

Kaoru looked down curiously before remembering the color of his avatar's eyes. A wide smile spread over his face. He logged out, a pale blush staining his cheeks and an idiotic grin gracing his lips as he pulled his headgear off in the dim light of his apartment.

* * *

**A/N:** I might add in a chapter about his first day after this one after I update again... or before I update with ch. 10... I kind of want to... but it'll be tomorrow... most likely... -shifty eyes-

.net/s/5360764/1/Waste_Some_Time


	5. The Rose's Thorn

**A/N**: Haaaaa… I apologize. Not only has it been a while but I said this'd be up last week… er- the week _before_ last… My bad.

But here's a new chapter now, so don't hate me too hard c:! Thanks so much for reading and sticking with it despite my sudden lack of updates. Your reviews mean so much to me, so keep them coming.

I updated a few things in the other chapters. Reread them if you wish, but really all I changed were a few words here and there and the time of the vacation. His family is now only gone for a month, but he's stuck in Tokyo on a six month lease for his apartment.

If you have any suggestions or ideas, let me know.

* * *

**Waste Some Time**

Chapter 5

_The Rose's Thorn_

The sky was beautiful, Kaoru decided. The depth of it, the swirling of clouds here and there, moving in the slightest breeze. The warmth it provided with the glow of the sun, they way it turned darker as it fell through the sky. Even in comparison to the perfectly pixeled one of The World, the beauty of the real sky just held so much more.

It wasn't until his coworker came out to drag him back inside that he realized he'd spent the whole of his break just eyeing the beauty overhead. He stood from the outside table and snuck back inside, taking a moment to readjust to the artificial light it had to offer. Minoru had certainly picked out the best place for him to work.

His eyes fell toward the tables where the few patrons they had were scattered throughout, laptops open and putting the wifi their little shop had to offer to full use. He smiled to himself as he tucked himself back behind the counter, glancing up at the clock on the wall. It was just past 3. In 30 minutes Ryou would be getting out of school, and at about ten til he'd be getting online.

He sighed, leaning against the counter and resting his chin on his hand. If there was one thing he really loved about this job, it was the agreement on hours. He started right when Ryou got to school his shift was over by 4. Despite this amazing luck, he found himself disheartened that he lost the whole 10 minutes with the boy.

As the schools started letting out, the Shot in the Dark Café started getting swept up in business.

A pack of girls walked in, chatting animatedly amongst themselves until they reached the counter and laid eyes on him. "Hah? I don't remember you here last term. Are you new?" one of them asked pleasantly, eyeing darting from him to her phone as she typed away on it.

"I am. I started a few weeks ago, actually."

"How long do you plan to stay here?" she had a grin now, fingers stilled on the pads, attention focused on the screen.

He blinked before the response tumbled awkwardly out, "At least six months." He had a sheepish little grin on his lips and she seemed to appreciate that.

There was a flash from her phone and he looked at it in confusion for a moment before remembering that they had cameras on them. She shot him an innocent smile and snapped her phone closed. "Ah, well I'm glad we got another cute one working here," she said warmly before she and her friends ordered. When they walked away to sit at one of the tables, it left him with a light blush on his cheeks.

And they weren't the only ones that were apparently regulars during school. By 3:40 there were plenty of others who had come in and eyed him and asked him similar questions. They were all friendly enough, which left him feeling relatively welcome to the environment. It wasn't until the next wave of students came in that he really took the time to remember one of their faces, however.

He looked up from his latest served customer with a smile for the next when he froze up. There stood a red-faced teen with brown hair and dark mahogany eyes, looking decidedly out of place before him. When their eyes met, to his total surprise, he felt the familiar flutter of butterflies in his stomach.

They stared each other down in silence for a moment, one obviously feeling as out of place as he looked, the other stunned by his body's reaction, until Kaoru realized he was supposed to speak first.

"Ah-! Welcome to the Shot in the Dark Café. What can I get for you?" he asked, his voice wavering a little, not as strong as it had been when he greeted the other patrons.

The brunette blinked, looking around suddenly to one of the chalkboard menus. "A daily special…" he said quietly, his voice just loud enough to be heard.

"Yes, coming right up!" Kaoru said hurriedly, turning and getting right to work on getting the cup ready. As he started filling the cup with their special brew, his eyes drifted back to the student; for he was definitely a student if that uniform was anything to go by. He'd gathered by listening to the other students that his uniform belonged to a school just a couple blocks down the road. He glanced back to the cup in his hand just in time to stop it from overflowing and poured a little out to make room for the rest of the fixings.

He moved down the line and grabbed the caramel and chocolate and whipped cream and the- he forgot what that white stuff was called- to pour in. When it looked pretty enough in his eyes, he turned and set it lightly before the student, eyeing him again. They were just about the same height, he noted, looking at the register. "That'll be 800¥," he read, looking quickly to the boy again.

Their eyes met once more before the boy quickly fumbled for the money and just about shoved it into his hand, taking the cup and turning tail to leave without another word. As he turned right just outside the door, he glanced over, face just as red as it had been when he walked in, and looked right at him. He made a face and took off, leaving Kaoru with a hammering heart and a fluttering stomach.

The last ten minutes went by uneventfully, leaving him plenty of time to consider his reaction to the boy by the time he hung his apron up and stepped outside with a wave for his coworker.

It didn't make sense to him. The only other time he'd felt that was whenever Ryou said something unintentionally sweet or when he earned one of **Haseo's** smiles. As he entered his apartment building, he froze in the doorway. The only reason that happened was because he had a very serious crush on Ryou. And that had to mean he was developing one on this kid too. He quickly headed up the stairs and to his apartment, fumbling with the keys and shutting it with his back once he was safely inside.

It was quiet, only the sound of cars driving by two floors below met him here in his sanctuary, only the low mumble of talking next door. He changed into more comfortable clothing, moving over to sit before his laptop. He turned it on and checked his male before logging into the world, headset in hand.

This was crazy. He hadn't even gotten to know the kid yet, there was no way it was a crush He'd barely even spoken to him. But he couldn't deny the attraction, he was a very good looking guy. A little concerned that the thought was still so stuck in his head, he brushed it off, letting the headgear blind his eyes to the troubles of the real world.

.....

The pair of them had managed to fight their way to the lower levels of one of the temple fields before the issue returned to the forefront of Kaoru's mind once more. They'd cornered the last monster of the battle, Blade and gun raised to take it out when **Haseo** took it out with a blinding flourish. As the battle arena dissipated around them, the avatar turned to face him with a broad, excited grin. It brought the butterflies back.

"Did you see that?" he asked excitedly, grinning down to his blade guns proudly before letting them vanish. "I love the new finishing moves they added with this new patch!" The positively nerdy excitement drew a fond smile upon Kaoru's lips as well as **Endrance's**.

"Yes, and in a couple levels we can probably breeze through one of the night temple fields with the new weapons in the statue rooms."

"Kaoru." He said seriously, still grinning from ear to ear as they headed toward the last room in this temple. "I don't think we should wait any more levels. I need to get my hands on those guns before everyone else!" his excitement was contagious and the butterflies gave another impatient flutter as the boy turned back from the chest to approach him, gifting him with a new long sword.

"I'll follow you anywhere, Ryou," he said in a soft voice, eyeing him tenderly.

The Terror of Death looked a little taken aback, hesitating before turning toward the portal. The party leader quickly pressed the right buttons and they were off to a new field.

They went through all of their health potions by the time they were down to the second to last level of the temple. If it wasn't for the time last Christmas that Haseo had given him a Repth scroll and insisted that he learn the spell, they wouldn't have made it all the way to the end. Kaoru had almost suggested that they turn back at that point, but the excitement was back on Haseo's face when they reached the staircase to the bottommost floor.

As they entered one of the last rooms they found four different sets of monsters awaiting them. They took out the first group before Kaoru breeched the subject that had been weighing on his mind all night. He wanted to know the boy's thoughts on it.

"Haseo," he began as the Terror lead the way toward the next batch of monsters, preparing a sneak attack. "I… I think I'm developing a crush."

There was an awkward moment of silence that passed between them and it took a moment before he realized why. He hadn't exactly taken any steps to hide the way he felt about Ryou, even though he had never come right out with a confession. He fretted for a few seconds to come up with a way to say that he wasn't talking about the one he obviously had on him before the other hit a button and they both flew into a battle.

This one took a little longer and if it hadn't been for the Phoenix Down in **Endrance's** inventory, they probably would've lost all those recent experience points. **Haseo** leveled at the end and Kaoru allowed him a few moments to allot the status points before addressing the topic again.

"I served a boy at work today and I haven't been able to stop thinking about him," he clarified.

"Did you get to talk to him?" **Haseo's** voice sounded strained. He still looked a little uncomfortable, oddly enough.

"I… No. Not more than to ask him what he wanted."

**Haseo** nodded, heading toward the next battle area. "Well you can't exactly 'like' somebody you don't know, can you?" he asked, looking over at **Endrance**.

"No, I guess you can't. He was very cute, though…"

Again they were thrown into a battle before their health replenished, ambushing a very large monster and two smaller flying things this time. They didn't have quite as much trouble this time with one of them a level higher, but it wasn't a cake walk, either.

When the monsters fell, Kaoru frowned, **Endrance **approaching** Haseo**. "Ryou, are you okay?" he questioned worriedly.

The younger waved off his concern. "I'm fine, I'm just getting tired. I haven't really gotten used to my school schedule again." Kaoru lifted his headset for a moment and looked at the watch his sister had mailed him a few days ago. It was getting pretty late." When it fell safely over his face again he looked around for his party leader again. He was headed for the last battle of the room.

"Ah~ I didn't realize how late it was getting. I shouldn't have kept you so late last night!"

**Haseo** shook his head immediately. "It isn't your fault. I think this should be our last temple tonight though. We'll have to hit the others tomorrow." He looked less than pleased about that, but school came first.

They took out the final battle of the temple with only a little trouble, **Endrance** leveling this time with a grin. He added everything into Strength and set to following **Haseo** toward the statue room.

As the boy closed the chest his face was one of shock. "This isn't a blade gun…" He didn't sound any less awed. "This is one of the best blades I've seen in this game. It binds on contact, you you'd better take it out."

Kaoru clicked on the chest curiously and his jaw fell open when he read the stats. "The 'Black Thorn?' I didn't really look at the stats of the new weapons they released. Are they all this good?" he asked breathlessly, taking the weapon and immediately equipping it. He summoned the blade immediately and they both looked at it closely. It was extremely thin and pretty long, black-bladed with strange symbols scrawled along the hilt, white wrappings coiled neatly around it, frayed at the ends and falling from the blade when he swung it.

It was gorgeous.

"If this is what we have to look forward to tomorrow, those last thirty minutes are going to be hell…" he grumbled as they started approaching the warp point.

Back in town it took everything he had not to summon his weapon again just to look at it. If it weren't for having to work tomorrow, he would be off to a new field to test it out. He saved quickly and turned toward **Haseo**, who was looking at him sheepishly.

"I forgot. Tomorrow I have some things to take care of. Both at school and after. I won't be able to get online until late for a few days. I would only have a little while, so there really isn't a point to getting online. But how about on Thursday we skip out on our responsibilities and pull an all-nighter?" he suggested.

Kaoru felt the disappointment pool in his stomach but smiled at the thought of how great an all-nighter would be. "That would be great. I can't wait." He said with a grin.

"Good night, Kaoru." **Haseo** smiled again, waving before gating out.

"Good night, my love."


	6. The Troubles of a Rose and Its Bud

**A/N**: And now for something _completely_ different, it's been a while-- have an insta-update c:!

But don't go expecting these from me, now. I only have enough planned out for MAYBE two chapters. But am getting an idea for either a sequel or maybe I'll just stretch this one out past getting them together, even though that was the initial plan. What do you think? I'll put a poll up about it. Please vote!

Originally, I was going to have Kaoru all calm and his crush flustered, but due to certain circumstances you might not know about yet, I think this is more fitting c:! Enjoy if you can~

Also.... I'm... sorry about Atoli ;-;... It had to happen. I really felt while writing in my Kaoru-mindset that it would happen... With her story she reminds me of one of my buddies ;-;...

* * *

**Waste Some Time**  
Chapter Six_  
The Troubles of a Rose and Its Bud_

The clock seemed to move quickly when he had nothing to look forward to. Here he was, buddy-less after his work day was over, and it seemed like no time at all til he looked up and saw the mass of bodies crowding into a line before him. All high school students.

He hadn't even taken a break yet!

He smiled charmingly to the patrons, taking their orders and filling them as effectively as he could. He found that the pack of girls from the day before had grown, three or four more than the previous day showed up, all giggles and grins and (unless he was dense) flirts. He helped them and tried not to think about the high schooler who'd messed with his inner rhythm.

He'd decided as he lay on the futon he'd bought with his first paycheck, trying to fall asleep, that the butterflies were reserved for Ryou. Nobody else had the right to invoke them, especially not without _speaking_. That was just excessive.

And when he looked up there he was. Think of the devil or something like that. He looked at him only long enough to get his order (another daily special) and frowned as he spun around to fill it. There were those traitorous butterflies. If he didn't have that pesky gene that forced him to be civil to everybody, he'd ignore the kid just for his pretty face. Oh, and he'd get fired.

He filled the cup without a near-incident this time, pouring in some warm chocolate drops and adding a few spoonfuls of sugar. He took a spoonful of the white liquid-- liquid marshmallows! That's what they were; he had to taste them to believe it, but it was the truth—and drizzled it on a warm chocolate chip cookie, setting it in the foamy whipped cream and looking over his work. He threw in a drizzle of chocolate syrup, too. Who didn't love that stuff?

He smiled down to it, turning to deliver it and nearly dropping it as he laid eyes on the boy again. He'd been watching him, a cute little smile quirking at his lips, his face more of its natural bronzy color today, only a light pink dusting his cheeks. He checked himself, carefully setting the cup down on the counter and sliding it toward him, suddenly brilliantly aware of how shaky his hands were and not wanting to spill his masterpiece (which, really, all the coffees they made here were) or gratify the butterflies for the problem they'd nearly created. He felt his face heat up as the boy looked at him expectantly, still smiling just enough to fuel the flames heating him up.

"Ah-! That'll be 800¥…" he caught on quickly enough, getting even more flustered when a few of the people behind the boy craned their necks around to see what was going on.

The money was handed over more gracefully this time and he practically threw it into the register before calling back to his coworker that he'd be taking his break. The college student whined pathetically as he came out from the back room, shooting a half-hearted glare at him before Kaoru made a bee-line for the door.

To his dismay he saw that head of brown hair through the window, sitting at one of the outdoor tables. He glanced around in hopes that against odds there might be a free table inside before conceding to the fact and stepping outside with a sigh. He decidedly did _not_ look to the student. He kept his eye skyward and he couldn't help the miniscule smile that tugged at his lips as he surveyed the soft blue canvas overhead.

He leaned back against the outside wall, eyes darting from cloud to jet line to horizon to brunette to—he froze up when he saw those mahogany eyes turn down to the table, dark lashes hiding them from view. He barely resisted the urge to swat at his stomach in hopes of stilling that obnoxious fluttering.

When the boy looked up at him from under those lashes, he found his mouth suddenly dry and momentarily thought of asking him if he could have a drink of that coffee before blushing madly at the audacity of those butterflies to inspire such a thought.

He was far too thankful for the distraction when he saw one of the girls he'd served earlier standing up a few tables away. It was the one who'd snuck a picture of him, he noticed. She waved him over, smiles and giggles flittering from the other girls at the table.

He spent the remainder of his break surrounded by estrogen, laughter and light 'accidental' touches on the arm. One of the girls had talked him into letting her run her fingers through his hair; another had gone off on a rant about 'how come none of the boys at _her_ school were so cute?' and yet another was asking him what school he went to. When he told them his age, there was a general uproar at the table that shocked him into silence before he got the 'three' out.

"There's no way you're _twenty_! My brother's twenty-six and he doesn't look my age!"

"No, I've heard of this. He must have the 'young' gene!" silence fell around the table at this and they all paid rapt attention to the speaker. "There are people that look like teenagers until they're just about _thirty_! No, really!"

"Yeah, they're called _vampires_, Kiyomi!"

"Haa~ Are you a vampire, Kaoru-chan?" giggles floated up at the suggestion. For a moment he wondered how they knew his name, until he remembered the name tag at his chest.

"He sure is pale enough!" and suddenly the girls were comparing tans to his bare arms and wondering how he kept his hair so well cared for when it was dyed. ("Natural?" they'd screamed when he told them.)

And suddenly his coworker was tapping at his shoulder.

He stood to leave, apologizing to the girls. They whined and practically begged for hugs and numbers, but he was walking away before they could force him into it. He heard his coworker sit in his place and heard the shouts of disapproval.

As he walked past the boy to resume his job, he noticed the look on his face. And _wow _was it a look! It was somewhere between miffed and worried. He must have gotten a call, because by the time Kaoru was back behind the counter, he was gone.

.....

The next day went by quickly as well; just another day with nothing but nothing to look forward to. He found his break early, however. At around lunchtime the girls had come in and demanded he join them again.

During this enlightening session of giggles and chatter and banter he found that one of the girls had a crush on him, one was going to be writing an article for the school paper on _Coffee: Where to get the Best and the Gentle Hands That Make It!_, and one of them was going to be modeling shoes in a billboard. He was only allowed back to work when they'd made him promise to keep an eye out for it and guaranteed them an interview.

He feared he would never understand the teenage female mind. Then again, with how his 'lovelife' (or at least his crushes) was panning out, there would definitely not be a serious problem in that department.

As if on cue, right at 3:40 the boy waltzed in again, drenched and looking hassled. Kaoru turned his eyes wistfully to the window only to see the rain. He frowned. This time, with no other orders to distract him (apparently coffee wasn't in demand when it was raining) he remembered his manners.

"Welcome," he greeted with a shallow bow over the counter. "What can I get for you today?" he questioned, fairly certain he knew what the boy's order would be.

The pointed look he received more than gave him his answer, but he still told him, "A daily special."

He set to work, filling it mostly with their house brew and pouring in something with vanilla, a vanilla, some liquid caramel and topping it with whipped cream and a vanilla wafer neatly on top. He smiled happily down at his work. This was becoming second nature to him. He'd have to find a job like this in Kanagawa prefecture when he returned.

He handed it over with only the slightest blush, no fear of dropping it this time. He didn't make eye contact a second time. "That will be 800¥." It was handed over and that was the end of their transaction. He grinned to himself in victory over the butterflies, proud of himself for beating down the burgeoning crush.

When his shift was over (for it came without serious incident today), he stood in the doorway, looking forlornly out into the grey sky. It was still pretty, but he was bound to miss the beauty and depth of the blue he so used to love.

The voice that broke him of his trance shocked him so bad he nearly hit his head on the doorframe, "You should stay until the rain stops." It was his mystery boy.

"Ah-! I only live across the street. It's nothing to get home from here. I just wish the sky wasn't so clouded," he said, returning his eyes to it.

He froze up when the student spoke again. "Still." He looked around to face him again, this time catching sight of a slight blush on his cheeks, seeing his focus entirely on him. "You should stay," he repeated.

Kaoru felt his face heat up as he let the door swing closed, hesitant to move. He saw the boy's eyes dart to the chair opposite him and he head as foot met chair and it moved out a little with a harsh squeak.

He took a seat and they started talking.

.....

It was when Kaoru got home after his chat with the boy (Misaki, he'd introduced himself as.) that he realized he had yet to test out his brand-spanking new blade. This had to be remedied immediately.

He was giddy as he put the headset on. He called forth his blade immediately just to admire it, moving toward the chaos gate absently. He sent it away as he started contemplating what level monsters would be best to test it on. Obviously nothing too high, since he was alone, but…

"Endrance!" he heard from somewhere behind him, half-expecting it to be **Bo** (**Saku** would never call him by his full character name. Just 'Master En!').

**Atoli** smiled kindly at him as she came to a halt beside him. "Atoli. It's been a while. How are you?" he asked pleasantly, though he was really in no mood to talk. He had a Thorn at his side and boy was he ready to get it out, to stick it in something else's side and see the effect it had. A smile came unbidden to his lips at the thought.

She grinned back at him, obviously thinking it was intended for her. "I'm doing well, thank you. I was wondering if you might want to level with me for a bit. I specialize in white magic; I can't go anywhere that would give me decent experience alone."

His smile only widened. He could show off in the process of testing it out! "Certainly. With you there I can go to a higher level area as well. Let's stock up on potions and head out." He instructed, forming the party and sending an invite. She accepted instantly.

He decided on a field right at their level as opposed to three or four above as he and **Haseo** usually took on. As they ported he felt his excitement mounting.

As soon as they landed, they looked around to be sure if they had shown up in a battle area, but they lucked out this time. The sounds of fighting they heard so nearby were another battle area. From within the semi-transparent ring he made out a would-be PKer following a Black Mage around. He looked to **Atoli** who nodded immediately before running toward it. As they approached the girl started pleading for help.

Once inside, the Blade Brandier called forth his new Thorn, admiring it for a second before setting out to attack the scantily clad Tribal Grappler. He swung the sword and it sent a shock wave toward the woman, stunning her character and leaving her wide open to attack. **Atoli's** chant of Repth for the one they'd saved lit up the background as he took to slashing and hacking and whipping his new sword around.

He was delighted with the way it was working. Typically with a long sword like this it took a few points under a second for the next swing. But this beauty sent one right after another. If CCcorp was off developing blades like this, he was absolutely looking forward to whatever they were up to.

When it came time for a finisher, he hit the button. **Endrance** kicked out at the offender, sending her sprawling. He spun his sword in his hand, lifting it up into the air for a moment until a grayish light began swirling around it, and thrust it directly down into his prey as she started standing again with another shock wave that stunned the other two characters in the area with him.

He gaped at the beautiful sword in his hand as the wrappings fell back into place. The battle area fell around them, leaving them open to the rest of the field.

"Th-thank you, Master Endrance!" the Black Mage exclaimed, gifting him 5 healing potions and a fairly low-level armor.

As she vanished in the warp rings, he vaguely wonder how long after he lost the title of 'Emperor' they would stop referring to him as 'Master'. Three years wasn't nearly enough, no.

As he finally turned to address the White Mage in his party, he saw the look she cast over his weapon and suddenly wanted to guard it from her. "That is an amazing sword, Endrance!" she shouted, looking so earnestly interested in it that he couldn't begrudge her the opportunity to look at it. He outstretched his hand, turning the blade over, swiping it at thin air when she asked about the bindings.

Her grin didn't falter at all when he put it away. "Isn't that one of the newer one they released last weekend?" she questioned eagerly. He nodded. "I'm amazed you got it. Haseo hasn't been on since Monday so you must have gotten it the day after it came out. I've heard it's a low chance item! I don't think anybody else has even gotten to the last level of those dungeons.

Suddenly he was even more impressed at his feat.

They took off through the field, slicing and chanting down enemies, every so often talking about his new blade and the other new items and their rarity. He was so distracted by all this that until they entered the temple, he'd nearly forgotten why he had so disliked her for so long.

Then she had to open her mouth and remind him after doing so well.

"So, Endrance… I was wondering something. How have things been with Haseo since you got back on?" she asked, doing well to make it sound as if it were a wandering thought that just-so-happened to cross he mind. Suddenly he felt possessive of his Adept Rogue.

"We've been fine," he said pointedly, his voice remaining light despite his sudden change in mood.

"It seems like it." And with that she was quiet for a time again, though it was clear the second after her mouth shut that the conversation hadn't even started yet.

He enjoyed the quiet while he could, taking out the room with her sporadic healing and the little help she did DPS-wise (**A/N**: Nerd alert! DPS= Damage Per Second). At the end of the level, right after they'd gone down the staircase, she spoke up again. "I've been wondering… Are you and he… _together_?" she asked then. He rolled his eyes while his back was to her, but kept his voice normal as he gave back an innocent answer despite his sudden urge to tell her to back off. He felt jealousy coiling in his stomach.

"We're together all the time, aren't we?" he said conversationally.

"Yes. _All_ the time. It's a wonder he has time for the rest of us. I'm jealous of you…" she admitted, looking down and halting in her steps as he turned to look at her in surprise.

"You are?" he asked dimly.

"Yes." She looked back up at him again with a sad smile. "I've been trying to get him to help me level… to spend some time together…" her smile turned sheepish and he nearly glared at her if it weren't for his curiosity in what she had to say. "But… since you got back he's been completely blowing me off. He says that there's no room for another player in your groups…" she looked up at him again, searching.

He frowned lightly. Now that he thought about it they'd only ever had Saku in their group since he got back, and even she was only invited twice, and by him. Of course Haseo hadn't been too thrilled, what with their history of fighting, but he hadn't thought more of it. He felt the jealousy melt away, his entire body suddenly feeling light and springy. Had he been telling everybody else no so they could spend time alone together? He felt his stomach flutter again, this time welcomed.

"There is room in your party… isn't there?" she asked dryly, smiling sadly again. Suddenly he again wondered why he'd ever disliked her. She'd always been in the same boat as him, unrequited feelings for the guild leader, just trying to get his attention somehow. And now he'd pretty much just told her that he'd been picked, at least in this battle. He preferred time with Kaoru. Now he felt nothing but pity and a great liking for her. She'd even rooted him on, if only to get Ryou back to normal.

"We're going to be running through the night field temples they announced would have the new weapons tomorrow…" he started, seeing her face light up a little. He gave her a small grin. "You should join us. Maybe we'll get lucky and find one of the staves? These things bind on contact, you know. He called forth his blade and weighed it in his hand. She looked grateful and humbled. She nodded, smiling brightly to him.

"That would be nice. Thank you, Endrance."

"It's… It's Kaoru."

"Kaoru-kun. My name is Chigusa…"

"Chigusa-chan? Nice to meet you."

She giggled. "Nice to meet you, too!"


	7. The Rose's Little Problem

**A/N**: Haaaaaaaaaa. I wrote two chapters in one day and started a third. It seems I've refound my inspiration to write this. Be shocked and amazed, I know I am…

I'm amused that all these chapters I've written come from maybe a page of script that I hand-wrote.

Let's see how long this one takes me to write ^-^!

* * *

**Waste Some Time**  
Chapter Seven  
_The Rose's Little Problem_

It was with a heavy sigh and an eye to the overhead clock that Kaoru discovered one very harsh truth about time. When you had something to look forward to, time ticked by at a miserably slow pace. After most of the week slipping past quickly, here it was _Thursday_, the day Ryou would be _returning_ to The World, and it seemed as if the minute hand were moving in the wrong direction. He glared at the clock, as if sheer willfulness would set it right.

He somehow managed a smile, serving that self-same pack of girls as they returned for their after school visit. "Come join us again, Kaoru-chan!" they chimed almost as a group, more than one hand reaching past the steaming cup in his hand and tugging at his sleeve.

He pulled back, setting the cup down to raise his hands in defense. "I already took my break for the day," he excused, grinning nervously as they started complaining.

The girls filed back behind the counter and snuck back into the back room, leaving a dumbfounded Kaoru in their wake. He lifted a hand, hesitating as the pushed past him. He turned back to face forward again with a sigh. To the sound of, "Manager-san-- Kaoru-chan needs another break in his day!" being called in the background, he watched as Misaki stepped in.

He felt the butterflies kick back into gear as if on cue when their eyes met and a small smile parted his lips. "Welcome!" he greeted, his face glowing red as the boy watched him awkwardly.

"Ah… Good afternoon-!" he said in reply, a smile of his own lighting up his face. "Have you… taken your break?" he asked after a second, looking a little nervous.

"Unfortunately, yes…" Kaoru responded, blushing deeper as his eyes found the counter between them.

"Go on, get out of here!" came the exasperated voice of his coworker, the man's hands pushing and shoving and nudging at his back to clear out the workspace as the girls came back out to join them. Kaoru hesitated, looking fearfully back at the college student.

He gave one final shove, tugging the apron loose from his thin waist and waving it at him. "They pled your case, now go and get out of here. The manager says we've had a slow enough day. You're free to go." The young man watched him with a frown as the girls voiced their approval of this change in schedule.

"Maa~ Kaoru-chan, come join us now!"

"We want to take you up on that interview."

"You can't get out of this one; you promised!"

Surrounded by the girls' pleas, the twenty-three-year-old floundered for a moment, looking between the girls that were now tugging on his arm, practically dragging him off to who knows where and Misaki, who looked taken aback by what was happening.

They nearly had him to a nearby table when a new hand reached out and grabbed his wrist, stilling his movement. The girls paused at the interruption and all eyes turned to fall on the brunette, who looked suddenly very aware and embarrassed as he dropped his hand back to his side.

"Misaki-kun… knows Kaoru-chan?" one of the girls asked.

Yet again the butterflies were going at it, filling him with excitement and reddening his cheeks. They held eyes with each other for a moment before Kaoru grinned, pulling out of the girls' grip and turning to bow to them.

"I'm sorry. I need to go now, I have a friend I'm supposed to be meeting soon. I promise you can have that interview tomorrow. Come in at lunch, I'll take my break when you get here!" he excused himself before turning and walking out of the building beside Misaki.

Once outside, Kaoru shot the kid a grin, holding it even as the other glared back toward the store. "You shouldn't… You shouldn't spend too much time around those girls. They go to my school. They're just a nuisance." He explained, eyes finding the road before them. He glanced over to Kaoru for a brief second before shooting his yes back in front of him again. "You said you lived just across the street, right?" he quickly amended, looking both ways as they came to a crosswalk.

"…Right," Kaoru replied, still a little red from the hand that had held his wrist so tightly. "Thank you for helping me get away from them."

Misaki started across the street just then, the other following right behind. "It was nothing. Like I said, they're a nuisance. You shouldn't be bothered by them." They came to the opposite corner quickly enough and the boy rounded on him again, still looking a little out of place. "I have to go. I'll see you- after school tomorrow?" he asked offhandedly, looking strangely up at him as if for permission.

"Ah… yes." Misaki nodded and turned to head off when he called out to him again. "Wait- if you didn't want coffee, why did you come to the shop?"

He didn't turn this time, just held his place a few feet away from Kaoru. "I wanted to… Are you free this Saturday?" he turned his head toward him just enough for the blush to be brightly visible on his cheeks.

His butterflies returned full force again at the suggestion, his eyes widening in shock. A broad smile came unbidden to his lips and his enthusiastic 'Yes!' was on his tongue when he remembered something. On Saturdays he spent the day online with Ryou. He hesitated, watching the back of Misaki's head sadly.

"Saturday isn't good for me…" he responded, looking at the ground when the boy turned back to look at him.

"Oh… I'm sorry. I thought you…" he trailed off. Kaoru looked up again and they made eye contact once more. He just confused, if not a little worried now. "Well—I'll talk to you tomorrow, Kaoru," he managed before taking off down the road.

Kaoru watched him, biting his lip solidly between his teeth. "Good bye, Misaki-kun…" he mumbled, frowning in thought as he turned toward his building and entered. The doorman gave him a look as he silently approached the stairway.

Only when he was again safely within the sanctuary of his apartment did he allow himself the sigh that begged for release.

So Misaki was somewhat interested in him as well, at least interested enough to ask him about his weekend plans… So why wasn't he thrilled? That was so much more than Ryou had ever given him after nearly 3 years together. Yet he felt the weight hit his stomach, the unease.

"Ryou…" he muttered, moving to his futon and sitting heavily on it. He didn't know how long he'd be able to handle having a crush on two different people. It was weighing too much on his mind. His fingers fumbled with the buttons on his shirt and as it slid off he massaged one shoulder, rolling it back and hearing the satisfying 'pop' it gave.

His eyes fell on his laptop and something prodded at the back of his mind. He frowned down at it for a few moments before the reality of the day smacked him in the face with a renewed fistful of excitement. "Ryou!" he exclaimed as he remembered the promise of dungeon crawling.

He changed into some sweatpants and planted himself down in front of his laptop, signing in and checking his mail quickly. He found a message from his sister, telling him to be ready for her to spend the night this weekend. He frowned. What was with people wanting to spend time with him on Saturdays? That day was reserved. He told his sister as much, telling her that maybe the next weekend would be better before opening the shortcut that would open The World to him.

.....

As it turned out, Ryou was late getting on today as well. He grouped up with **Atoli** as he'd promised the day before and **SakuBo** had demanded it as well. He agreed, telling her that he didn't know how long he had.

They'd made it through two lower-level fields for the Mage when the alert showed up on his screen. **Haseo has logged on.** He immediately, wordlessly, booted **SakuBo** from the party and warped to Breg Epona, **Atoli** following suit.

When he laid eyes on the white-haired PC, his stomach clenched and fluttered at once, leaving an odd mix for him to figure out. As soon as he was within reach, he flung himself onto the Terror of Death, pulling him into a hug that (if _he_ had anything to say about it) would have crushed the boy.

"So I take it you missed me?" the character's voice was such a reassurance that he couldn't help the huge grin that swept over his face.

"I've never missed you more…" he glanced over to the other character and suddenly remembering himself, let the other go. "Haseo," he finished awkwardly, not used to using his PC name.

Apparently said boy wasn't used to it either, he looked taken aback for a moment before laying eyes on the other as Kaoru sent him an invitation. It was accepted and he gave her a little smile as well. "Atoli. Are you… coming with us today? It seems we have the room…" he explained, looking a little put off.

The girl giggled, grinning to **Endrance** as she responded, "Yes, Kaoru-kun invited me yesterday. It seems you do."

**Haseo's** red eyes seeked out **Endrance's** in surprise, but **Atoli** intercepted the conversation again, turning toward him as well. "Shall we head out? I'm curious to see if we can find anymore of the new weapons together."

**Haseo** shot him a betrayed look, promising _something_, before he nodded. "Yes, let's go…" Kaoru frowned at this reaction before nodding as well. "Let's get some potions before we go into the field though…

He turned around, heading toward the conveniently located shop, leaving Kaoru's character standing there, confused by his friend.

.....

By the time they got to fighting, whatever Ryou's mood was seemed to have lightened. He spoke as he normally did, almost at ease with the girl as they talked amongst themselves, Kaoru giving them some space and keeping mostly to himself. He only spoke when they referred to him, and because of this there wasn't much talking involved in their little adventure. He wasn't going to open his mouth and get a glare from those red eyes again. Even though he'd just about been guaranteed he wouldn't blow up at him again, the residual fear remained.

They battled their way through five of the night temples that night, only the third one having another new weapon.

The chest in the statue room provided **Atoli **with a brand new, bound staff. This had a thin, long handle, at tall as her PC. It was almost clear but for a light blue tint, the texture of it like ice. Thin cracks of black and white shot through it, little crystalline leaves protruding from them- growing in size until it reached the top. The apex was as tall as her hat, little wisps of black and white intertwining in an intricate design, surrounding a glowing purple orb.

When they put it to use, upon using white magic the orb faded to an icy blue, vibrating her controller and greatly boosting the upped stats they received. When she used the two dark magic abilities she had in her arsenal, the orb all but vanished, receding to a smoky blot above the staff, which shot out the effects she ordered. When she used it for DPS, the monsters always ran away from her, confused, and attacked their allies.

When she used it in a finishing move, her PC closed her eyes, letting the staff float away from her to cup her hands over her heart. It hovered a few feet in front of her, tilted to one side and emitted a bright white light from the orb that spiraled through the rest of it. Then her character opened its eyes, white as well, and the orb shattered, raining what looked like mini- falling stars down over all enemies in the battle area. Then the shattered orb rebuilt itself and returned to that vibrant purple, falling back into **Atoli's** hand.

All in all they were rather impressed with it. After the fourth temple, she excused herself, claiming she was going to check the forums and see if there was any news of others finding the new weapons.

That left **Haseo** and **Endrance** alone together.

Neither of them breached the subject until they'd cleared the fifth temple and returned to Breg Epona. There it was Ryou who finally broke the uneasy silence between them.

"Why did you invite her to go with us?" he asked conversationally, though they both knew the question had been eating at him all night.

Kaoru frowned again, turning to look at his favorite character design. His expression wasn't a glare, but it was a pretty deep frown that was returned to him. "I… she asked me to level with her last night and I agreed." Ryou gave him a moment to continue, but he didn't take it.

"I thought you hated her?"

"So did I. We started talking last night and… I realized she and I have a lot in common with one another," Kaoru said, averting his eyes for a second. Why was he so concerned about it?"

"So why does she know your name?" the younger asked, his tone soft and his frown receding. His shoulders dropped a little, hands falling to his sides.

Kaoru blinked at him in surprise at the question. Was there something wrong with Ryou tonight? "We got along really well last night," he started carefully, not sure how much to tell him lest he give away more than Chigusa would like. "Like I said we have a lot in common. After a while it just seemed kind of impersonal referring to her by her PC name, so I told her my name and she told me hers.

**Haseo** blinked up at him. "That's it?" he asked dimly, looking surprised.

Kaoru nodded from his room, though his character remained silent. "Yes? Should there have been more?" he asked confusedly. He sighed after a second, relenting his position. "Well… I invited her today because she seemed so down yesterday. She told me how you've been blowing her off since I got back online and… I felt bad for her. It's not like I invited her to one of our Saturday plays…"

The other remained silent for a few seconds before suddenly looking relieved. "That's right. We play together on Saturdays, don't we?" a wide grin spread onto the ex- PKer's lips

**Endrance** slowly nodded in response, eyeing his friend carefully. There was definitely something off with him tonight.

Suddenly they both stiffened, **Atoli has logged in.** flashing on their screens. They made eye contact as the girl materialized a few feet away.

"It's amazing! We're the only ones to have found _any_ of the new weapons that were released!" she spouted breathlessly, grinning ear-to-ear. I have work tomorrow night, but I was wondering if maybe on Saturday we might be able to try again? I was—," she began, starting to go of on a tangent, but Ryou cut her off.

"I'm sorry, Atoli. Saturdays are just for Kaoru and I." the girl looked stunned, her mouth falling shut as words failed her. The look on **Haseo's** face was very nearly venomous. Kaoru's stomach was all aflutter once more at this reaction. Was that _jealousy_?

She nodded slowly. "Right, well maybe on Sunday, then?" she asked, looking to **Endrance** this time. He nodded wordlessly. "I'll see you two then." And she was off.

They stood there in silence for a few seconds before **Haseo** turned toward him, one hand rubbing at the back of his neck sheepishly. "Saturday…" he hesitated, not meeting his eye. "It is just for the two of us, right?" he asked uncertainly.

Kaoru smiled wildly, wrestling down the urge to hug the love of his life again. "Of course, Ryou." He assured him. It was then that he realized, with a shock, that _this_ was what he really loved. Being here with Ryou, even through **Haseo** and **Endrance**, spending this time with the other was worth so much more to him than spending hours with Misaki. If ever the time came he had to choose between them, he knew where he stood.

Ryou was his world.

"Good. So, are you ready to pull an all-nighter with me? Duties be damned?" the teenager asked her, grinning now that the issue was behind them.

"Of course. I already called it in with my boss. I just have to work until noon on Saturday."

They went to the shop to restock on health drinks now that their healer was off for the night. As they approached the chaos gate again, **Haseo** fixed him with a sly look. "By the way, have you made any progress with that crush of yours?" he asked, a small smile tilting his lips.

Kaoru hesitated, watching him in surprise. "Uh… Sort of. We've spoken now… I think he was going to ask me out on Saturday, but we already have plans." The other nodded at this and he grinned to him. "I'm surprised you remembered."

**Haseo's **smile was contagious. "Of course. You're my best friend. Is it… a 'real' crush now?" he pressed.

"It is… but I still have my old crush as well," he said pointedly, leveling him with a gaze. His love nodded and told him the area words for another night temple field. At least now it seemed things were back to normal between them. He could definitely handle a few more years of that.


	8. The Terror's Secret

**A/N**: Okay so my Microsoft Word 90 day trial is up. This means a number of things, but namely that I will have to actually read through my work after I throw it together for spelling errors ;m;! ZA HORROR ZA HORROR!  
And _apparently_ for formatting too. I'm so sorry you guys had to read this as a jumbled mess! Thank you Lacie Dive for bringing it to my attention!

It also means I need to check on my piercing, actually... Anywho! Meaningless banter aside: I am now venturing into territory I haven't planned for.  
SORRY IN ADVANCE FOR THE SHORT!  
WOOO! Here's hoping it doesn't go horribly 8D! I'll spare you more words and give you the story c:.  
Enjoy if you can~!

ALSO!  
If you haven't voted in my poll... which i know for a fact NONE of you have, you should check out my profile really quick and take it. It'll just be a few seconds and it'll help me decide exactly where I'm going ^^!

* * *

**Waste Some Time**  
Chapter Eight  
_The Terror's Little Secret _

* * *

It wasn't until he took off the headset to stretch and grab a bite to eat that he noticed the sun had already come up. With a grin slipping onto his lips, he looked back to his laptop fondly. Usually it was Ryou who first saw daybreak during their all nighters.

He made his way over to the window with muffled footsteps and propped himself languidly against the sill. It was already past midday, the sun tucked snugly amidst the only few clouds in the sky that day. He glanced down to his watch curiously. It was nearly three.

He took a bite of the apple in his hand and fogged up the glass with a sigh, finding himself oddly content. Though, considering he'd been up all night with Ryou (he ignored the suggestion as best as he could, but a blush snuck up on him despite it), it really wasn't all that odd. The only time he was really comfortable was when they were together- which is the _exact_ opposite effect Misaki had on him.

Kaoru closed his eyes as he felt the cool of the glass touch his forehead, having another juicy bite. Every time he thought too hard about Ryou or his feelings for the boy, Misaki came to mind as well. It didn't matter the realization of precedence he'd had the day before or how many times he reminded himself of it, the frequenter of the cafe always stole into the forefront of his mind.

He refrained from the groan that tugged for release at his throat and peeled himself away from the window to stare down the pixilated screen, one hand resting on his hip. He finished off the apple after a moment of contemplation and threw the core into his overflowing garbage tin. Old habits die hard, but he'd have to remember to take that out before his apartment started smelling.

He wiped his hands off on his pants and dropped onto the cushion he'd occupied all the previous night, submerging himself again in his time with Ryou. M2D back in place, he looked to **Haseo**. The avatar he loved so grinned.  
"That was pretty long, what took you?" the voice washed over him, leaving him to bat away the all-too-familiar feeling it brought forth.

Kaoru couldn't help the smile that came so easily. He could hear the boy tiring, moreso now than before his lunch break. "I distracted myself with the sky. I didn't realize it was past noon already."

**Haseo** frowned at him for a moment before looking surprised. "Already? I though it was still morning. Time's so hard to gauge when you're playing this all night," he mumbled, heading toward the shop. Endrance followed, but before he could access it to restock, something clicked into place with a fresh batch of butterflies to the midsection.

He had agreed to be there, but with how Ryou had reacted to Chigusa's intrusion on their time together- the _Jealousy_- he wondered if he should tell him the reason he'd need to log off soon. As the Terror spun around again to head toward the Chaos Gate, he realized he'd need to get off now before he got swept up in another dungeon and left the boy down in one alone.

"Aa- i just realized. Misaki gets out of school in half an hour." Haseo looked around at him, all confusion on his face. "I told him I'd meet him today. Would you mind if I went to see him for just a bit?" The complete lack of response continued long enough that Kaoru began to fret. "I could be back online by four. Earlier if you'd like... or if you want I can just stay online with you until you get tired of me..." his voice wavered as he cut off his babbling. A bubble of fear came to life. He wanted to make sure the boy didn't think he was abandoning him, but he wasn't sure how to go about asking in a way that wouldn't go full-circle.

Quite suddenly, **Haseo** snapped back to reality, looking rushed. He must have taken his headset off. "No no no. That's fine, Kaoru. I just remembered actually, I've been invited to a late lunch today. I'll talk to you later tonight! Bye!"

And he logged out, leaving a very stunned Kaoru in his wake. They'd gone through a few fields since their last save and... He didn't remember Ryou saving since they'd been in town. He must have been in a hurry. But that didn't seem very 'Ryou-like' to him. No he must have saved while Kaoru had been taking his break. Or maybe...

Did Ryou have a date?

He felt horrible at the thought.

...

He'd taken his time in the shower and still made it down to the cafe a few minutes early. Early enough to catch an angry earful from his miffed coworker about people getting the day off and sticking others with their duties and having the audacity to show up in their place of work- on a day they requested off!- for a date. Kaoru accepted the annoyed pestering with a sheepish grin until the college student wandered off to do his job.

The small buoyancy he'd felt at the thought of seeing Misaki was almost completely muted by the thought of Ryou being on a date. The love of his life; his best friend; his leveling buddy- Off smiling and laughing with somebody else. It was almost enough to make him sick.

He might even have a _girlfriend_, but Kaoru refused to let his thoughts linger on that idea for his own mental well-being.

A little earlier than he usually showed, Misaki came to a halt at the door looking ruffled and out of breath. Kaoru offered a little smile as he entered and approached the table.

"Misaki-kun! How was school?" he asked pleasantly when the boy sat down.

The brunette took a steadying breath, looking immensely more comfortable than he had at the door. "It went well enough. How has your day off been?" he returned, picking up the coffee Kaoru had bought for him and taking a sip.

"It's been pretty great. I got to spend it with Ry-... My best friend." he covered up the name, giving a forced smile.

Misaki blinked at him. A few seconds of silence reigned. "Are... you okay?" he asked. Apparently Kaoru needed to work on his fake smiles.

"Yeah, I guess I'm just a little jealous. He had plans with somebody today. He's never mentioned plans to me before. Not that he has to, but..." he glanced to the sky above Misaki's head through the window.

The student averted his eyes to the table, speaking quietly as he did. "But... you have plans too." Kaoru watched his face, though he had no chance of reading it correctly.

"You're right. I didn't really think about that."

Again they were quiet for a time. This time it was broken by somebody else.

"Misaki-kun...?" The boy frowned, catching Kaoru's eye.

Kaoru looked up over the boy's shoulder again. It was one of the girls that had taken to him, looking at Misaki oddly.

"Oi, Misaki-kun! Why weren't you at school today? You even dressed in the uniform!" she was looking more and more impatient. Kaoru blinked down to Misaki in surprise. He'd just said he was at school. Why would he lie about something like that? The boy suddenly looked nervous, staring determinedly at the table now.

The girl finally strode over, hands on her hips as she stood beside him. "Ryou!" she called rudely, glaring at him. "I'm talking to you!"

The boy looked up, fearful as he met Kaoru's eyes. Kaoru frowned at the girl for how rudely she had addressed Misaki- 'Ryou'? He looked back to his crush, confused. His given name was Ryou? He went to a school ten minutes away; apparently he hadn't been in school today, but he'd made a show of it looking that way; and his Ryou had seemed in a hurry to get somewhere... "...Misa- Ryou?" he breathed, eyes widening.

As soon as the name was said, Misaki Ryou was on his feet, the clatter of the sliding chair catching the attention of the other patrons. Red in the face, he turned and left the building in a few quick strides. Kaoru rose behind him, making his way to the door. He looked in the direction he usually left, seeing the boy's back retreating in the distance.

Kaoru followed him as best as he could.

**A/N**: TaDaaaa! Oh noes! Now you know who Misaki is... in case you didn't know that Misaki was Ryou's last name xD;;.  
Forgive me for typos. I went through and corrected some, but i probably have some more in there that I didn't see. I just wanted to give you guys a chapter while I was home for a couple hours. Happy Fourth of July... tomorrow xD;;  
Where I live, we're celebrating it today... Blah.


	9. The Lost Rose

**A**/**N**: K, so... I started this back in summer, and now it's nearly winter break o-o;; I'm sorry it's been so loooong! This is my favorite story, but every time I sit down to write more I have no interest in doing so- which is my biggest recurring obstacle in writing.  
But thank you all for the alerts and reviews and favorites! Really it always makes me absurdly happy to see a new email in my ffnet folder ;w;!  
Thank you thank you thank you! I hope this update doesn't disappoint.  
Oh, and this is dedicated to Ciell for keeping me company that morning c8!

I have a new pen name too, if you haven't noticed. I think this one will stick around for a while c8.

* * *

**Waste Some Time**  
Chapter Nine  
_The Lost Rose  
_

* * *

Kaoru knew exactly how they would first meet.

It would be some incidental meeting in some store. An accidental brush of the arm that hitches his breath and steals his attention. Their eyes would meet and the world would screech to a halt around them.

Because isn't that how it happens when you meet your true love for the first time?

So maybe his idea was a bit cliche and unimaginative, but he would have preferred it to the reality of the matter. If he'd had his way, he wouldn't have been so flustered and tripping over himself when he first laid eyes on the boy. He wouldn't have found himself struggling between the boy and _the boy_. He would have know who it was right off the bat... And he definitely never would have let him out that door.

But, as it stood, he had, and he'd followed him- And as he found himself lost amongst unfamiliar buildings and street signs, he wondered if that might not have been his biggest mistake. He knew the area outside his street about as well as he knew Russian, and he did neither Ryou nor himself any good being lost.

Still. Here he stood- Alone.

Before he had time to be properly terrified by that concept, the gentle push of passersby became a bump of the elbow. and he all but fell into a shadowy doorway, getting an unyielding doorknob in the kidney. A quick glance at the store told him that it was less crowded than this street and shortly he was pulling it open.

It wasn't until the door dinged shut behind him that he realized how loud it had been outside. He found his bearings with the cool breath of a fan, at least aware enough to take stock of the room and its occupants at last, and the complete lack of anybody inside caught him off guard. He peered around a bookshelf, trying to catch sight of somebody behind the counter. A few steps later, he stood before it, half hunched over to peer into the dimly lit backroom. Even on a slow day, it seemed crazy that somebody would leave their shop entirely unattended.

With his mind consumed by the absurdity of this idea, he almost didn't hear another person enter. When the door jingled closed, he nearly jumped out of his skin. Standing just inside the door, looking kindly at him was a middle-aged woman, worn face pulled into a warm smile. She made her way over and stood beside him to his surprise.

"Welcome! Sorry to keep you waiting." He caught a wiff of smoke as the fan turned in their direction. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

He blinked in his confusion for a moment before he realized he was in her store. "Ah... I haven't really looked at much yet..." he said apologetically. Her smile didn't falter.

"Don't worry about it! Maybe I can help you find what you're looking for...? Let's see if I can guess why you're here. Usually for somebody your age to come in, it's something for a girlfriend?" she suggested. He figured he was in a gift shop. He felt out of place, having just come in to get out of the street. He glanced to the floor, the reality of his situation returning to him. "Huh? You look bothered..."

"He... was keeping something from me," he mumbled, feeling as though he'd just taken a hit to the stomach

"Oh. It's that then. Then he should really be the one in here- not you." Her smile became sympathetic. "Feel free to look around. Let me know if I can help you find something, dear." She briefly touched his arm with a bow before slipping behind the counter he stood before.

Finally he allowed himself to glance around. He'd never gone 'shopping'- whether it be just to look or for something specific like a gift. The only shopping he'd done had been in the past three weeks, and that had been for groceries. And since he had no clue how to get home anyway, why not take his time? Despite the flutter of anxiousness the thought brought him, he managed to keep himself steady as he approached a shelf on the nearest wall. Displayed all down the length of it were colorful trinkets and little toys and cute little items, spread out in little bins and lined up as if for his viewing pleasure.

Something out of place caught his eye, tucked away snugly between a book and a bin of rings. He reached up and palmed a small squirt gun, picking it up to eye level. He looked it over, grinning as he recognized something about it. In a way it seemed like something CCcorp might come out with, the swirl of colors and a few decorative extras that did nothing for the gun but add a few dimensions.

The thought of **Haseo** wielding a squirt gun drew a soft smile to his lips, the impulse to laugh catching him by surprise. He shouldn't be so light hearted about the situation, but the foolish grin remained despite this thought as he wondered if there was another like it.

It was the sound of the door chiming again that broke him of his thoughts, drawing his attention to a couple of high schoolers as they crossed the threshold. There stood a girl in a skirt and sweater, her face flushed from the heat. Her hair curled and waved romantically, pinned up on the side with something jeweled. Her eyes were alight with excitement as she started looking through the treasures on the walls and counters. Beside her and looking for all the world like he belonged there was a boy, hair messy, face as red as hers. He seemed far less enthralled with the store, but still his eyes were fixed on her.

"Ah! Kenni, look at this!" she all but squealed, a cry that had Kaoru cringing. She hurried forward and scooped up a little plush dog. He couldn't see from his vantage point, but something made her squeal again, a laugh punctuating the quiet atmosphere.

Kaoru returned to the counter, setting the gun down with a quiet sound. The shop's owner eyed him, but stayed quiet as she rung it up to the sound of the girl's voice again filling the small space. He forked over the price and pocketed the tiny item, looking back to the couple as the excitement quieted.

The two of them were close together, talking. They matched each other, he thought. Just seeing them together you knew they were a couple. Then they kissed, and Kaoru suddenly felt like he was intruding on something sacred. He averted his eyes, heading quietly for the door so as not to disturb them anymore than he felt he already had. As he neared the door, he remembered his manners and looked back toward the counter to thank the shopkeeper. She was gone by then, however, and instead he was met with another eyeful of the couple. Seeing how well they melded into each other, a spark of jealousy came to life. It wasn't fair that after all this time, he'd met the man of his dreams offline and yet hadn't been able to embrace him like that, thee way he'd always wanted to. His hand found the door knob and he wrenched it open, tears threatening to fall at the immediate and overwhelming desire he had to see Ryou.

Back amidst the bodies that dotted the street, he wound his way back in the direction he thought he'd come from. It seemed less threatening than it had before, but he was still lost in a city far larger than he was. He froze up as he finally broke free of the crowd, wondering which direction he should try.

"Kaoru-chan!"

He turned on his heel to see the girl from the store, waving an arm high above her head with a smile on her face and the boy in tow. They made their way to him, weaving through the throng of people as though they were a single unit. When they drew up to him, he realized with a start that he knew her. She was among the group of girls that always called him over to their table at work. Seeing her outside of work, he felt suddenly very vulnerable and even more out of his element. She looked so different today, though he had no chance of knowing why.

"We missed you today at the cafe. Did your schedule change?" she asked, smiling just as kindly as she usually did- something that set him at ease for the first time since he'd watched Ryou run from him.

He shook his head to rid it of that less-than-pleasant thought and responded, "No. I took the day off to spend time with a friend."

"Do they live far away?" she frowned, looking genuinely interested.

"No, it's just been a while so we stayed up all night playing a game together."

"Eh? What game was this?" A small smile stole across her lips.

"The World."

"Aah. I remember you telling us about playing that game. Hm... Michiko said you were with Misaki-kun today. He's the friend, right?" she concluded, looking pleased with herself.

"As it turns out, yes." The relief of there not being two people to worry about returned, bringing a small smile to flit across his face.

"That's good. Misaki-kun's in our class. Michiko and he used to be close friends. He's a nice guy, even if he doesn't always come across that way..." she trailed off when she saw the smile and her own returned. "But I'm sure you know that. Ne, Kaoru-chan?" And arm tucked around her waist, calling her attention back to the boy at her hip. "Ah! We should be going if we're gonna catch that movie," she huffed, whipping out her cell phone and checking the time in a practiced manner.

Kaoru wrestled for a few seconds with the idea of asked her to help him find his way back to the cafe. She had plans, but maybe she could just tell him which way to get _started_ in, or some quick directions?

Oblivious to his internal struggle, yet almost as if on cue, she looked back up to him with a quizzical look. "Wait a second. Do you know where you are? Didn't you say you only knew the immediate area of the cafe?" he nodded, thankful she brought it up. "You should come with us. The cafe is just down the road from where we're going."

To Kaoru, in that instant she looked like an angel. "That- that would be great. Thank you."

Then he saw it as she linked arms with the brooding boy and called for him to follow them. The way her face lit up and softened when their eyes met. The difference wasn't just in the street clothes or the curly hair. With the boy at her side, she just looked so completely happy.

The summer storm came just in time. He wiped his eyes as he walked along behind them.

Soaked to the bone and shivering, but safely in front of his apartment, Kaoru bid the pair farewell. The woman behind the front desk smiled warmly at him as he entered the building. He nodded a greeting, somewhat out of breath from the sprint he'd taken to get across the street, and made his way up the stairs.

When the door to his apartment was safely shut behind him, he shrugged off his windbreaker and combed his fingers through the wet tangles that clung to his shoulders. He groaned at the feeling, grabbing the brush up off the counter and running it through his hair. He hated nothing so much as tangles.

He looked to the window and approached the glass, eyeing the heavy clouds with distaste as they hid his sun... not that it would be up for much longer. And as they were wont to do, his thoughts traced their usual route back to Ryou. Hopefully he'd made it home safely.

He thought briefly that the boy might be online and before he could stop himself with the thought that the boy might not want to talk to him, he had his laptop open and a pressed button beneath his slender finger. As he sat in wait, a frown settled onto his features. Had he done something wrong for Ryou to just up and leave like that. Even if the secret was out, it seemed a little rash. He felt a drop in the pit of his stomach at the recurring reality. Why did Ryou feel the need to hide who he was?

Finally his computer chimed as it woke up, the motor running smoothly after a few hours' rest. As soon as the Internet connection registered, the message flashed over his favorite background. He had a new mail. Deft fingers brought it up in a few short motions. It was from Minoru. He breathed a sigh of relief, fearing for a moment it might have been from Ryou. His eyes ran down the list of read mail until they fell on those he'd gotten from Ryou during his short abstinence from The World and an idea came to mind.

Hadn't he been given a number to reach him at?

The mouse hovered for a moment over the first one before he clicked it open and scrolled to the bottom to see those numbers staring out at him. He looked around himself, moving the blanket around and standing to see if he was sitting on the one pen he owned. After throwing the blanket around a few times and rooting around on his futon, he checked the counter in the bathroom and the windowsill and finally found himself standing in front of the window again, decidedly pen-free.

He heard his neighbor moving about in her apartment and looked to the conjoining wall. His dwindling social anxiety would have to wait. He stepped outside of his room and approached her door, his hand stilling for a moment before connecting with a sharp knock. Without much incident, he found himself back in his room, scrawling the number across the back of his hand with a fat marker, and moving fast back down to the lobby to use the public use phone.

Despite the three people standing around conversing, nobody was using the phone. As he stood before it, he glanced back around to the bodies in the room. He steadied himself, feeling the embarrassment creeping over him the longer he thought about what he was about to do. With a shaking hand he took a hold of the phone, and with another like it he dialed the number. It rang a few times. Then again. And again. Kaoru was about to put down the receiver when he heard it.

"...Hello?"

He jumped in surprise, pressing the phone firmly to his ear in disbelief. He recognized that voice, if only just.

"Ryou?" he asked eagerly, feeling his pulse kick up in his excitement. After a few seconds, he wondered if maybe he'd sounded too eager. "Misaki-kun?" he murmured. Maybe it had been a mistake to call him.

"Kaoru..." the voice choked off and Kaoru frowned. He could barely hear him.

"Ryou, why did you-"

"..I'm so-y! I di-'t me-n for -t to la- th-t lon-."

"Ryou, I can barely understand you- it's cutting out a lot. There's a lot of background noise too. Where are you?"

"A-. J-s- - sec-" it fuzzed out, leaving Kaoru holding a silent phone to his ear.

Suddenly the dial tone beeped loudly, startling him into nearly dropping the phone. He hurriedly pulled the cord until the receiver was in his hand again and typed in three numbers before the phone started ringing. Kaoru awkwardly held it in his hand, not sure how to answer it when it was off the hook. He looked back to the woman behind the counter, who was giggling in her chair. She told him to press one of the buttons and when he did, it was silent again.

"Ryou?"

"Kaoru! Good. I'm at the train station. I had bad reception where I was."

"Still? Why aren't you home?" he fretted, combing his fingers through his still-damp hair.

It was silent for a few seconds before the response came, if a little muffled. "I was... trying to talk myself into stopping by your apartment to apologize."

Almost as if his world hadn't been capsized just a few hours prior, the butterflies were back and he was flying high. He knew he was grinning like an idiot by the way his cheeks were aching. He must have been silent a few seconds too long in his giddy moment, because Ryou spoke up again, sounding a little concerned. "Kaoru?"

The man collected himself, trying to force his voice to stay even. "It's late, isn't it? How late do the trains run?"

After a few seconds, Ryou replied, "I... I'm not sure."

Once again, nerves and excitement coursed through him as a thought came to mind. "Why don't you- why don't you stay here for the night?" he mumbled, his voice dropping with each word.

"Would that be alright?" The surprise was obvious to both of them.

"Of course."

"Cool. You live across from the cafe, right? What floor?"

The grin grew wider and his control of his voice failed him. "I'll meet you in the lobby," he breathed, beaming at the lined pattern wall paper before him.

"I'll see you soon," Ryou sounded hurried.

"Wait, Ryou, it's raining..." he heard the dial tone again before he finished his warning.

He let the phone fall back into its place and timidly spun around to face the crowd he knew had heard his half of the conversation. His face flushed deeply as he saw their knowing grins and heard the kind-hearted laughter and sporadic clapping. His eyes found the maroon carpet as he went for the door, moving to wait outside to get some air.

**A**/**N**:: -/epic love pose of love that is filled with love- Seeeeee? WAY before I expected to have it done, it is _done_. I'm so glad I finished it. And (don't quote me, but...) I think I've gotten my inspiration a little. The last section came easily c8!  
I just realized that I don't think I've described them the way I see them. If you have a certain mental image of them, that's fine- if you're curious:  
I see Ryou with shaggy dark brown hair and reddish-brown eyes and Kaoru with blonde, shoulder-blade length hair (which is why he hates tangles) and light yellowy-brown-grey eyes. I'll be sketching them out tonight and I'll put the link on my profile at the bottom if you'd like to see it.

ALSO! Let me know if I have and /i's or /b's or anything, please.


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